The Lair of the Serpent
by Chuztox
Summary: The sequel to my previous story, The Stone of Shadows. Tayuya and Oshime have a new mission, one more perilous than the last.
1. Morning

The Lair of the Serpent

**Chapter 1: Morning**

It was a brisk fall morning, windy yet sunny. As the sun rose, it streamed through the window of the bedroom in the small home. The red-haired girl laying down in the bed of said room was still fast asleep, drooling slightly into her pillow. The silver-haired girl, however, sat up as the sun brightened the room, and rubbed her eyes.

"Ugh, Tayuya, you're drooling again..." The silver-haired girl mumbled, groggily.

Tayuya merely replied with some gibberish, and rolled over to her side. Oshime sighed, and tried to shake Tayuya enough to wake her up. Tayuya merely shook back in forth, having fallen back asleep quickly, and not appearing to want to wake again. Oshime shrugged, and placed the blanket back over her.

"Eh, no harm in letting her sleep a bit longer." Oshime thought out loud.

She walked to the dresser on the side of the room, and grabbed her clothes for the day from the various drawers. She left their bedroom, and entered the bathroom down the hall. Oshime stripped out of her pajamas and underwear, turned the shower on, and entered the heated water.

"Ah, this feels nice..." Oshime stated, letting the hot water cascade across her body.

It had been four months since Oshime and Tayuya had "stolen" the Stone of Shadows and defeated Mutsuki, who leeched its powers for his own goals. Unknown to Tayuya, Oshime's mission was to steal the stone so that Mutsuki would be unable to. Tayuya was a bit annoyed when she found out the truth, but quickly forgave Oshime for lying to her. Of course, the large sum of money and the house they were given as a reward probably helped a little. Oshime smiled as she thought of that first night that they were owners of that house, and first said "I love you". Oshime finished her shower, and got dressed after allowing her time to dry off. Exiting the bathroom, she walked back into their bedroom, and saw Tayuya still asleep, drooling once again. Oshime shook her head and tried to shake the girl awake again.

"Tayuya, you can't sleep the day away. Get up." Oshime said.

Truthfully, it was only 10:30 in the morning, but to Oshime that was late enough to wake her up. Tayuya sat up groggily, and rubbed her eyes, her red hair splayed in all directions. Oshime chuckled a bit at Tayuya's messy hair, and then pulled the blanket off of her body. Tayuya, wearing just a long t-shirt for pajamas, was instantly out of the daze of just having woken up, and crossed her arms.

"What the hell, Oshime?" Tayuya said, glaring at her, "It's cold this morning, there was no point to doing that..."

"I needed to wake you up, and that seemed to do the trick." Oshime replied, sticking her tongue out at Tayuya.

Tayuya mumbled something that Oshime would not be able to understand, and then stretched her arms up, pulling her t-shirt up just enough to reveal what she was wearing under it.

"Heh, you need a change." Oshime stated, looking at it.

"No, really?" Tayuya replied, sarcastically, "I guess that makes this morning just like every other, then..."

"You want me to do it, or can you do it yourself?" Oshime asked, giving a smile at her sarcastic response.

"Go ahead." Tayuya responded, lying back for her.

She was perfectly capable of changing herself, and had for the most part of the last 3 years. However, she knew that Oshime liked changing her, something about "bonding" or "getting closer to her" being all she could remember about what Oshime said on the subject. Tayuya did not care if she or Oshime did it, so she usually just let Oshime have her way. It fed into her lazy personality, anyway, so it really was more of a convenience, than anything.

"Ok then" Oshime said with a smile as Tayuya lied back.

Oshime pulled Tayuya's shirt a bit higher up, so that she could get to the tapes of the diaper. After she undid each tape, she slid the wet garment out from under Tayuya, and tossed it into the special trashcan on the side of the bed made just for diapers. Tayuya was not fond of the idea of a separate trash can, but could not really explain why to Oshime, so she never said anything. Neither blushed at Tayuya's nudity, nor were either sure if it was due to the number of times this had happened, or the fact that they were a couple. Oshime grabbed a moist wipe, and expertly wiped Tayuya's privates, having done so numerous times in the past months. Next, Oshime sprinkled powder on Tayuya's crotch, and rubbed it in gently. The powder was a relatively new feature, introduced by Oshime a few days after the house had been given to them, due to a rash Tayuya had developed. Despite this, it quickly grew to be the favorite part of a change for each of them, for reasons that were quite obvious to both of them, despite Tayuya's dislike of the babyish smell. After Oshime had finished that, milking it for a few seconds longer than she needed to, she grabbed a new diaper, and slid it under Tayuya, taping it up snugly.

"Thanks" Tayuya stated, as she did after every change.

"No problem" Oshime replied, smiling and pulling Tayuya back into a sitting position.

Tayuya shifted her sitting position, as she sat up, the bulk of the diaper being a bit uncomfortable sitting in the former position. Tayuya had not always been incontinent, having sustained massive injuries after a tree fell on her after her battle with Shikamaru and Temari nearly three years previous. She had hoped that the incontinence was only temporary, but that hope faded after awhile. That event is actually where Tayuya and Oshime met, Oshime having discovered Tayuya unconscious on the ground, having passed out after hobbling through the forest and discovering that all her previous teammates had been killed in their battles.

"Ok then, now that that's done, I'm going to the Kagekage's office to get briefed for a mission." Oshime stated, not excited for how she expected Tayuya to respond.

"What, another mission?" Tayuya rhetorically asked, "We've barely chipped into our cash reward, and we're not even official kunoichi of the village, so why must you continually go on missions?"

"C'mon, Tayuya, Kagegakure is low on forces, so they're grateful that I can help out." Oshime answered, "Besides, the pay's good, and I never thought you'd be one to turn down money, no matter how much we already have."

"I know, I know..." Tayuya replied, "But still, it's annoying..."

"Heh, I'll be back soon, this is just a mission briefing." Oshime responded.

Oshime gave Tayuya a quick kiss, and headed out the bedroom door, and downstairs. Tayuya sighed as she heard the front door close, but decided that she should get dressed for the day. She stood up from the bed, and walked over to her dresser, pulling out a folded shirt and pants. She, of course, wasn't the one who neatly folded her clothes, not caring enough to do something like that. Oshime did all the laundry, so she was the one who folded her clothes. Tayuya removed her long shirt, and tossed it on the ground, knowing Oshime would pick it up later. She was not wearing a bra, as she never did when she slept. She slid the new shirt on, not deciding to wear a bra today, either. The shirt was a deep blue t-shirt, which reached a bit past her waist. She next slid a pair of slightly baggy black sweatpants over her diaper, and considered herself dressed. She walked down into the living room, and flopped onto the couch, grabbing the remote for the television and pressing the power button.

"There's never anything good on this early..." She muttered.

Oshime returned about an hour later, and saw Tayuya on the couch as she entered the house. Her hair was still a mess, but slightly better than when she first woke up, most likely just because she ran her hand through it once or twice.

"How long are you going to be gone this time...?" Tayuya asked as she entered, still slightly annoyed, and not turning away from the television.

"Go upstairs and get yourself looking better." Oshime stated, not answering Tayuya's question.

"What? Why?" Tayuya asked.

"I'll explain when you're done." Oshime responded.

Tayuya gave her an inquisitive look, but the look on Oshime's face told Tayuya that she was serious. Tayuya nodded, and sat up, heading for the stairs to the next floor.

"Fix your hair, and change into some better clothes." Oshime stated as the redhead ascended the staircase.

It was obvious to Oshime that Tayuya was not wearing a bra at the moment, and while she usually would have liked that, now was not the time for Tayuya's usual laziness and sloppiness. After a few minutes, Tayuya descended the staircase, her hair about as good she could get it herself, and wearing the same shirt, but adequately clothed underneath it.

"So what's up?" Tayuya asked as she came down.

"You're needed for this mission." Oshime stated simply.

"What? Why me? I never volunteered for a mission before." Tayuya replied.

"I know, but you're the only one who can help with this." Oshime answered.

"How so?" Tayuya asked, confused.

"You'll see when we go back for the mission briefing." Oshime responded, her orange eyes letting Tayuya know this was a serious mission.

"I don't know..." Tayuya remarked, not sure of what to do.

"Please? For me?" Oshime pleaded, looking directly into Tayuya's eyes.

"Oh great, now I can't refuse." Tayuya said, grabbing her jacket.

"Ok then, let's go." Oshime replied, smiling.

Tayuya nodded, and followed Oshime out the door, heading for the Kagekage's office.

-~-

It was a relatively chilly morning in Konohagakure, but there was not a cloud in the sky as the sun rose. In one residence, a figure stirred as the sun rose, use to early mornings. She sat up in her bed and stretched, removing her thumb from her mouth, annoyed that it had found its way in there as she slept. She pulled her blankets off, and shivered a bit at the cool air. Her pink hair was a bit messy, but that could be taken care of after she got dressed. She walked over to her dresser, and rubbed her greenish eyes as she pulled out her outfit for the day. It was her standard outfit, for the most part; red shirt, brown skirt and dark blue leggings under that. Checking that no one had opened her bedroom door in the middle of the night, Sakura unbuttoned her pajama shirt, and slid her matching pajama pants off. Sakura sighed as she looked at the wet diaper she was wearing, instead of underwear. It had been four months since that incident, yet she still was not healed of the aftereffects of that jutsu. She had been placed into a powerful genjutsu in her battle with Tayuya, in which she imagined Ino treating her like a baby, despite her body and mind (for the most part) still being sixteen years old. After the genjutsu ended, she was stuck with nasty side-effects, including incontinence. She started off by wearing pull-ups, but they weren't adequate for nighttime wettings, so she reluctantly switched to diapers for bed, although she was relieved that they weren't nearly as thick as the oversized baby diapers she was forced to wear while under the genjustu.

"I'm going to kill her..." Sakura mumbled, referring to Tayuya.

Tayuya had mentioned that the aftereffects were temporary, but her timetable for them couldn't be trusted, starting off by saying a few days, but gradually pushing the length up to two months. It had been double the length of time she had mentioned, but Sakura still found herself struck with incontinence, and a few other annoying aftereffects. On the morning after she had returned four months ago, Sakura had gone for lunch with Ino, and found out that the aftereffects covered more than just her bathroom habits. Just as in the genjutsu, being around Ino eased her mind into regressing into babyhood. Sakura was wearing a pull-up to the restaurant, but she was not expecting that she was going to acting so young by being near Ino. Ino soon realized something was wrong, as Sakura was acting very strange, but was flabbergasted when she stated that she was wet in a standard voice. Before she had had a chance to recover her wits, Sakura called Ino "Mommy", causing her to nearly spit out the tea that she was drinking. Sakura's mind returned to usual shortly after, blushing because she had memory of how she was acting. She tried to explain, but she could not get a coherent word out of her mouth due to her embarrassment at the situation. Ino took her into the bathroom in the back of the eatery, hoping the privacy would let Sakura explain better. It took a few seconds, but Sakura managed to tell the blond most of the story, and why she was acting like this. Ino stayed silent for a second afterwards, but surprised Sakura by yanking her shorts down and revealing her wet pull-up. She had wet right after Ino had invited her for lunch, and once more while dining, so it was leaking slightly, which served only to increase the already strong blush on her face.

"Sakura, if you're wetting so much, I don't think these flimsy things are good enough" Ino stated, purposefully trying to embarrass her friend and rival.

Sakura said nothing, but merely kept blushing.

"Well, we'll deal with that later. For now, give me another pull-up so we can get you out of this one."

Sakura stared at her in shock, trying to figure out what other possibility Ino could mean, not believing that her interpretation could be true.

"I-I didn't bring any with me..." Sakura stated, still in shock.

She was not lying to Ino, as she had not thought about the need to bring more pull-ups.

"Well then, let's go back to your place before you wet again and leak all over yourself." Ino stated, surprisingly calm, given the odd situation.

Sakura merely nodded, seeing the truth in Ino's words. She pulled her shorts back up, and followed Ino out of the restroom. Ino placed some cash at their table, and left the eatery, heading for Sakura's house. Once there, Ino said her greetings to Sakura's mother, and followed the pink-haired girl up to her room. Sakura asked for privacy, but Ino would have none of it. She closed Sakura's door, and once again stripped Sakura of her shorts, threatening to tell her secret if she did not go along with this. Sakura blushed, and closed her eyes as Ino slipped the sodden pull-up down, stepping out of it when instructed. Ino used a few tissues to wipe Sakura's privates, Sakura feeling her face grow redder. Ino quickly slid a new pull-up into place after Sakura had stepped into it, and patted Sakura on the rear.

"All done" Ino said, a bit mockingly.

Sakura merely nodded, her face as still as red as a tomato. Ino told Sakura that she'd be back later, and quickly left. A while later, she returned with what she considered a present, a package of diapers, some wet wipes, and a bottle of baby powder. Sakura was not quite delighted to see them, but Ino said that it would be safer for Sakura to wear diapers at times, rather than pull-ups. Sakura reluctantly agreed, and was happy when Ino said she had to leave shortly after. Ino kept the secret to herself, which Sakura was grateful for, but loved to rub it in her face in private, and sometimes even try to force her to regress, just to embarrass the kunoichi. Sakura had begun to wear diapers at times, usually if she knew it might be awhile before she could change.

"I'd better get changed..." Sakura muttered, pulling herself from her memories.

She removed the diaper, and tossed it in the trash, under a few other articles to prevent it from being seen. Her parents still were unaware of her condition, too embarrassed to tell them. Sakura grabbed a pull-up from the drawer, sighing at the sight of the folded panties lying next to them. Sakura did her own laundry, so she never had to worry about her mother discovering her secret due to lack of underwear in the wash, or something like that. Sakura wiped herself with a few wipes, and slid the pull-up on, forgoing the baby powder, despite Ino's wishes. She heard the door open and quickly grasped for her leggings, afraid it was her mother. She sighed in relief as Ino walked into her room, smirking at Sakura's current attire, making sure to close the door behind her.

"Heh, wearing a pull-up today? You sure that's safe?" Ino asked mockingly.

"I-I'll be fine..." Sakura muttered, blushing.

Sakura was thankful that even if the aftereffects had not worn off yet, they had at least dulled. She was still incontinent, but at least it took a long time being around Ino before she started to regress, rather than the few seconds it was originally.

"Well, ok, for now, at least." Ino stated, "But we've been assigned a mission, so we need to go see Lady Tsunade for the briefing."

Sakura nodded, but was nervous at the thought of being on a long mission with Ino, not knowing how her mind would react. She finished getting dressed, and left her home, heading for the Hokage's office.


	2. Briefing

**Chapter 2 – Briefing**

Tayuya and Oshime walked out of their home, heading for the Kagekage's office. The wind had died down a bit since earlier, but was still blowing in gusts through the village. The two girls were walking directly into the wind, Tayuya clutching her jacket to prevent it from blowing off, instead of simply zipping it up. As they walked, Tayuya glanced at the buildings of the village, seeing various villagers performing their daily chores and tasks. A few gave the two friendly nods as they walked by, while others merely continued with their various minutiae. Oshime gave acknowledgements to whoever gave greetings to the two of them, while Tayuya merely stayed quiet. After a short time, they reached the Kagekage's office, and were let in by the Jounin outside the doors.

"Thank you" Oshime stated to the man, walking inside in front of Tayuya.

The two girls stopped in front of the Kagekage's desk, waiting to be acknowledged.

"Welcome, girls" The Kagekage stated, in his standard booming voice.

"Thank you, Lord Kagekage." Oshime replied.

"Haha, I guess I'll never be able to get you to stop being so formal, Oshime" He responded, his dark green eyes devoid of the listlessness they contained after the Mutsuki incident.

"Pfft, good luck." Tayuya interjected.

"Haha, and I suppose I'll never get you any higher than your low level of manners." He replied with a chuckle, "Oh well, I guess that means the two of you balance out to be the average mannered person I was hoping for."

"I suppose..." Oshime responded, almost able to feel the metaphorical giant sweatdrop on the back of her head.

Oshime was happy to notice that the Kagekage was in brighter spirits than he had been recently, even if that did involve some odd, awkward moments. Tayuya merely blinked at his words, unable to formulate an adequate response for that statement.

"Well, shall we begin?" The Kagekage asked, looking more serious than before.

"Yes, please" Oshime responded.

"Yeah, why am I here?" Tayuya asked, jumping the gun.

"I believe you'll come to realize the answer to that as I explain the mission." He stated simply, retrieving a folder from his drawer.

"Fine, fine..." Tayuya muttered, receiving a glare from Oshime in return.

"Ahem, now then...An ANBU squad consisting of three shinobi that we dispatched in a neighboring land has recently discovered what seems to be an abandoned enemy base." He began.

"Enemy?" Oshime questioned, unaware that Kagegakure truly had a real enemy.

"Yes, it appears that the base used to belong to Orochimaru, one of the Sannin." He replied.

Tayuya's blood went cold as she heard that name spoken, beginning to realize why she was here. Oshime was mostly unaware of Tayuya's past, only knowing that she was part of a group that she was reluctant to speak about. However, she could tell by the look on Tayuya's face that the name had a profound effect on her.

"Unfortunately, the three ANBU members haven't reported in after investigating, and we can only assume the worst." He stated solemnly.

"I thought you said it was abandoned?" Oshime asked.

"Yes, the squad investigated from the outside for days scanning for any activity, and never saw a sign that the base was active. After that, they decided to go in, and never came back out. For all we know, they were killed by the traps within, which means the base may indeed be abandoned." He replied.

"I see..." Oshime simply stated.

Tayuya said nothing, still deep in thought about what she was hearing, and what she expected was to come.

"As such, your mission is to examine the base yourself. Get as much information on Orochimaru, his subordinates, plans and anything else as you can." He said, before turning to look at Tayuya, "No doubt you realize why I asked for you to be a part of this mission?"

Oshime gave a confused look, not sure what he said so far that would apply to Tayuya in such a way.

"Yes..." Tayuya replied, before she came to a realization, "But...How do you know!? I never told Oshime."

"Sorry, Ms. Tayuya, but I had the Information Center of the village look into your past. Konohagakure had the information you're speaking of." He answered, "Forgive me for going behind you back like that."

"You mean...you were one of Orochimaru's subordinates?" Oshime asked, looking at Tayuya.

"Yeah..." Tayuya replied simply, not wanting to think about those days much more than she needed to.

"Now, on to the mission," The Kagekage interrupted, "I wanted to assign the two of you some ANBU members, but Ms. Enshoku has mentioned that the two of you work better on your own. Despite her no longer being an official kunoichi of this village, I feel as if I could trust Ms. Enshoku with my life, just as I am sure that she could trust you with hers. As such, I will accommodate that request, despite what common sense would say."

"Thank you." Oshime replied.

"I guess I have no choice but to help..." Tayuya stated, the look on her face filled with anything but confidence.

"I thank you both, greatly." The Kagekage stated, handing Oshime the mission folder.

Oshime and Tayuya nodded, and turned to leave the office.

"Good luck, girls." He stated as they left.

As they left the building, the two headed back to their home, in order to get all the supplies they needed for the mission. Tayuya still had a nervous look on her face, which concerned Oshime.

"Are you ok, Tayuya?" Oshime asked.

"Yeah" Tayuya muttered, not very convincingly.

Oshime wanted to add a comment, but knew that Tayuya did not want to discuss it at this point in time. She stayed quiet for the rest of the walk back to the house, still concerned for Tayuya. They entered their home, and headed upstairs for their bedroom. Tayuya grabbed her pack from under their bed, and quickly filled it with a few changes of clothes, various ninja tools, and of course, her changing supplies. The items were not exactly neatly arranged in the pack, meaning Tayuya had to hold it down in order to zip it shut. Oshime, on the other hand, merely had to place her folded clothes and such neatly into her pack, making it easy to close. Oshime also had some changing supplies in her pack, but they also belonged to Tayuya. All the extra diapers, and wipes and bottle of powder tended to take up a good bit of space, so Oshime usually took about half of it. This time, she decided to take all the extra diapers, which made her pack a bit fuller than Tayuya's, but her organization allowed her to close her pack without any trouble. After she had finally zipped hers up, Tayuya slipped her pack on her back, signifying that she was ready to go.

"Before we go, do you need a change?" Oshime asked, wanting to take Tayuya's mind off of the mission for even a few minutes.

"...Yeah, I do." Tayuya answered, after she shifted a bit to assess the situation.

"We'd better take care of that, before we leave." Oshime stated, moving her pack off the bed.

Tayuya sighed, but laid on the bed, not wanting to argue at this point in time. Oshime slid Tayuya's pants down, exposing her moderately wet diaper. Undoing the sides, she slid the wet garment out from under her, and tossed it out. Tayuya stayed silent as she was changed, still thinking of the mission coming up. Oshime wiped her clean gently, and then sprinkled powder on her privates. The only time that Tayuya was distracted from the mission, was when Oshime rubbed that powder in, trying to retain her elation at the event. Oshime smiled, and extended that event for a few extra seconds, before reaching for a new diaper. Not wanting to cut into their traveling supplies, she grabbed one from the open pack under the bed, and slid that under Tayuya. She taped it up snugly, and helped Tayuya to her feet, the redhead's pants still at her ankles.

"There you go, Cutie." Oshime said, giving her a couple pats on her padded rear.

"Watch it..." Tayuya replied, pulling her pants up, "You don't have the padding to prevent my counter-attack from hurting."

Oshime let out a small laugh, happy to see a smirk on Tayuya's face. They each grabbed their packs, and looked at each other, each nodding before they left the house. They headed for the gates of the village, and walked through, heading for the coordinates specified in the file.

-~-

Sakura and Ino headed for the Hokage's office on this brisk morning, Sakura afraid of the mission they were going to get. She was not sure whether she was more afraid of the embarrassment of regressing, or the possibility of hindering the mission by regressing. Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by a strong gust of wind, which nearly knocked her over. She noticed that she was luckier than Ino in that regard, as Ino had been fully knocked over. Sakura laughed, but helped Ino up, the look of pure rage on her face stopping her laughter prematurely.

"Good little Sakura" Ino stated when she stopped laughing, reminding Sakura of her current situation.

"Sh-shut up..." Sakura mumbled, not thinking of anything else that would not end with Sakura's pants at her ankles.

Ino gave a smirk of confidence, and continued towards the Hokage's office. As they arrived, Shizune, carrying Ton-ton, let them in, whispering that Tsunade was in a bit of a bad mood, so to choose their words carefully. Both girls nodded, and entered the office, seeing that there was already someone else speaking to Lady Tsunade.

"Anko?" Ino asked, looking at the purple-haired woman.

"That's Anko-sensei to you, kid" Anko said, turning to face the two of them. She was wearing her standard outfit, which was not the most conservative choice of clothes, merely a tan skirt, mesh top, and a tan trenchcoat covering that.

"Err, sorry" Ino replied, a bit afraid of Anko's personality.

"Now that you two are finally here..." Tsunade interjected, glaring at Ino and Sakura.

"Sorry Lady Tsunade..." They both stated, seeing that Shizune was not lying.

"Now then I'll keep this short, we've discovered a base on the border of the Underworld Country, which we believe to be one of Orochimaru's."

"Underworld Country?" Sakura questioned, "Isn't that where Kagegakure is?"

"Indeed" Tsunade responded, nodding, "The Underworld Country is supposed to be an ally, so need to know the status of that base. It's possible that Orochimaru built that base without the Country knowing."

"Ah, I see..." Anko stated, looking over the file.

"Anko will be the leader of this mission, due to her past with Orochimaru." Tsunade said, referring to Anko's childhood, where Orochimaru acted as her sensei before his betrayal.

Anko solemnly nodded, rubbing the curse mark on the back of her neck instinctually. She preferred not to think back to those days, but was not going to let that interfere with her being a ninja, especially for such an important mission. She figured a successful mission would help her attempt to advance to Jounin from her current position as Special Jounin, which was just a glorified Chuunin.

"I want you to leave immediately." Tsunade stated, still looking unhappy.

"Understood" Anko replied, answering for the entire team.

"Good" Tsunade replied simply, turning her chair away from them.

Anko turned, and walked out of the office without saying another word. Ino and Sakura looked at each other, and then followed Anko until they had exited the building.

"Meet me at the gates in twenty minutes, or face the consequences." Anko stated calmly, despite what was implied.

"R-right..." Ino and Sakura said simultaneously.

Sakura headed in the direction of her home, and was surprised to Ino follow after her.

"I need to make sure you grab the right items for the mission" Ino stated, answering Sakura's question.

Sakura just sighed, knowing that fighting would only lead to wasting their ever shortening time frame.

"My house first though, since it's closer." Ino stated, beginning to walk in the other direction.

Sakura reluctantly followed, entering Ino's house when they arrived there. Ino let Sakura into her room, as she grabbed her pack and opened her dresser drawer. As if to taunt Sakura, Ino made a gesture of taking out each individual pair of panties, folding them while holding it up, and placing it into her pack. Sakura turned away after the third pair, due to her glares not working.

"Hurry up, we don't have much time!" Sakura yelled, not letting Ino have the satisfaction of yelling at her for the true source of her anger.

"Yeah, yeah..." Ino stated, placing the rest of her clothes in her pack quickly.

Slinging it over her back, Ino headed for the door as Sakura stood up from the bed.

"Hurry up, we have a time limit." Ino mocked.

Sakura said nothing, and walked past Ino and out of her house. She turned the corner, and headed towards her own home, Ino right behind her. She entered her home, and reluctantly let Ino follow her up to her room. Sakura grabbed her own pack, and placed a few clothes in, along with a pack of pull-ups and wipes.

"Don't forget these!" Ino stated, holding up a full pack of diapers.

Sakura sighed, using all the energy she had to prevent herself from punching Ino through her wall. Sakura reached for the pack, but was surprised when Ino pulled them away from her reaching hand.

"I think I'll hold onto these, your pack is a bit full." Ino replied, mocking her.

Sakura knew she was just going to use them to embarrass her later, but knew she also could not put up a fight for something relatively minor, compared to what Ino could do to her.

"Hmm, speaking of..." Ino started, "Are you wet yet?"

Sakura blushed, and waited a few seconds before nodding. Ino, however, did not seem to listen to Sakura's response, merely yanking her pants down to check.

"Yup, you're pull-up is almost leaking. You still sure this was a smart idea?" Ino asked mockingly.

"Yes..." Sakura responded, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a "no".

"Hmm, well, we're going on a long mission, and these dinky pull-ups won't cut it, so I say you should wear diapers for the duration of it. Do you agree?" Ino stated, giving Sakura a look telling her she had no choice in the matter.

"...Fine." Sakura replied.

"Good girl" Ino stated, "Now lay down so I can change you."

Sakura clenched her fist, but laid down anyway, knowing she had no choice in the matter. She blushed and turned away as Ino slid the wet pull-up down her legs, exposing her moist crotch. Ino grabbed a wipe, and quickly wipes Sakura dry, eliciting a surprised yelp as the cool moist made contact with her skin. Sakura was expecting her legs to be lifted and to feel a diaper against her rear, but was surprised as a powder was sprinkled on her crotch. Sakura turned towards Ino and blushed deeper as she began to rub that powder in.

"That'll prevent a rash." Ino stated, answering the question before it was asked.

"I-I know that, I wasn't expecting it..." Sakura responded.

Ino gave a small laugh, and quickly taped Sakura into a new diaper. She helped her up, making sure that she was the one that pulled Sakura's pants up, denying her even the most minor of victories. Sakura grabbed her pack, and headed out of her house, not saying another word to Ino. The two girls exited Sakura's house, and headed for the Gates, hoping they were not late.


	3. Past

**Chapter 3 – Past**

As Tayuya and Oshime walked through the village gates, Oshime stopped for a second and looked back at the file for the mission, thinking out which way to go to get there. She looked at the coordinates of the base, and searched her mental database for where that would be relative to their current location.

"Tayuya, it's a left up ahead." Oshime stated, pointing towards the path she referred to.

"Got it." Tayuya replied, turning left at the path.

Oshime walked a bit faster, in order to catch up to Tayuya, who had made a bit of extra progress when Oshime stopped to figure out which way to go. Oshime looked over at Tayuya, and noticed her face still showed signs of nervousness from the aspects of the mission. Oshime took a few moments to decide if she should bring up the subject, or let it fester. After a few moments of thought, Oshime decided that replacing the current look on Tayuya's face with her standard scowl or maybe even a smile would be worth the awkward moment the questions might bring with them.

"So...you used to be part of Orochimaru's organization?" Oshime asked, wishing she had thought to ask it less casually.

"...Yeah." Tayuya responded simply, her face contorting into an even worse countenance than before.

"...Would you like to talk about it?" Oshime asked, wondering if she had made a mistake by bringing it up.

"...Fine" Tayuya responded after a few seconds, sighing beforehand.

"Ok, then." Oshime responded, waiting for Tayuya to begin.

"I can't really remember anything before the age of seven," Tayuya began, "The first thing I remember is what I can only assume to be my village of birth burning around me, with two figures standing in the shadows from the flames, one laughing while the other was smirking."

"How could you tell that one was smirking if he was in the shadows?" Oshime responded.

"Because, for a brief instant, the shadows dissipated enough to just see his mouth and chin," Tayuya responded, "It was more malice and evil than should be able to be held in a smirk, but I remember it vividly."

"I see..." Oshime replied.

"I spent the next few months wandering around aimlessly, begging for scraps and money," Tayuya continued, "It was...difficult, to say the least."

"I can imagine" Oshime said.

"One day, I came across a very small village, and hoped I could find a meal somewhere. I saw a man frantically yelling about his daughter, pointing towards the well at edge of his property," Tayuya stated, "A few villagers huddled around the well, looking into it with concern, but not knowing how to get the kid out."

"What happened?" Oshime asked.

"Well, it was like instinct took over," Tayuya answered, "I hopped into the well, grabbed the kid, and used my chakra to scale the slimy wall. I must have been pretty good at doing that before my village was destroyed, since it came so naturally."

"Wow, _you_ saved someone in trouble?" Oshime joked.

"Ha ha, very funny. Yeah, I did." Tayuya replied, "As thanks, her father brought me back to their house and I ate a warm meal with the family. Later, he brought me back to his workshop, and showed me the things he made out of metal. Most of it was kunai and shuriken and such, but there was also various other objects."

"Oh, he must've made his money by making and selling weapons to the ninja villages." Oshime said.

"You always were the smart one," Tayuya responded, "Indeed, that's where he got most of his cash. When I was looking through the various metal works, I saw a flute and became fascinated for some reason. He noticed, and allowed me to try it out."

"Wow, your flute went back that far?" Oshime questioned.

"Yeah, it did. Anyway, when I played it, I was a natural. I knew what I was doing without knowing how, just like with scaling the well." Tayuya answered, "He was so impressed, he let me keep the flute. I kept that for eight years, until it was destroyed in _that_ battle..."

"Ah..." Oshime said simply, not knowing what to add.

"Let's take a break for some lunch, and then I'll finish the story." Tayuya stated, sitting down against a tree.

"That sounds good to me," Oshime replied, "Besides, you could probably use a change by now."

Tayuya just nodded, and shifted the position she was sitting in. Oshime sat down next to her, and pulled out two canisters of food, handing them to Tayuya. Oshime piled a few sticks together, and used a simple fire jutsu to set them alight. She removed two skewers from her pack, and stabbed the food in the open canisters that Tayuya was holding. She handed on to Tayuya, and kept one for herself. Tayuya threw the two empty canisters into the forest, eliciting a scowl from Oshime.

"You know, we could have saved those for something..." Oshime stated.

"Meh, useless baggage." Tayuya replied, shrugging.

Oshime shook her head, and held her skewer over the fire to cook her food, as did Tayuya. After a few minutes, she removed the skewer, and took a bite out of the cooked meat. Tayuya did the same, but she somehow managed to get some on herself, despite the nature of the food they were eating. After they had finished, Oshime cleaned her skewer off, glaring at Tayuya as if to say "I dare you to throw that away". Tayuya merely licked it clean, and shoved it back into her pack, letting out a loud burp.

"You really are like a child, aren't you?" Oshime mocked.

"Shut it." Tayuya responded, her face still coated in foodstuffs.

Oshime grabbed a rag from her pack, and forcibly rubbed Tayuya's face clean, despite the redhead struggling like a little kid. Oshime wet the rag with some water, and repeated the process, trying to get Tayuya's face clean.

"Gah, dammit, Oshime!" Tayuya shouted, "Would you stop!?"

"Not until you're clean, or learn to clean yourself." Oshime said mockingly, "Since you refuse to clean yourself, I seem to have to do it."

"You act like I don't bathe myself..." Tayuya muttered, rubbing her face with her sleeve after Oshime had finished.

"Another month or two, and I'll probably be bathing you as well..." Oshime muttered.

"I heard that, you little-" Tayuya stated, before being interrupted.

"C'mon, you need a change, and then we can continue towards the base." Oshime interjected, changing the subject.

"Oh, right." Tayuya replied, falling for Oshime's ploy.

"So let's get you changed quickly, ok?" Oshime stated.

"Umm, ok..." Tayuya replied, finding it a bit more embarrassing to be changed by someone other than herself outside, even if there was no one else that would see her.

Oshime yanked Tayuya's pants suddenly, as if to tell her to sit up, so they could be pulled off all the way. Tayuya slowly did so, and Oshime slid the pants down far enough to do a diaper change. Oshime noticed how yellowed the diaper had become, even though they had only left the village about five hours ago. Oshime saw Tayuya's face redden for the first change in awhile as she removed the tabs, and went about changing her sodden diaper. Oshime's hands moved quickly as they did their work, knowing that Tayuya was more nervous in the outdoors. Oshime did not even stretch out the powdering, despite how much each really liked it. Oshime removed a diaper from the pack, and taped it onto Tayuya snugly. Tayuya stood up as the silver-haired girl slid her pants back up, and replaced the supplies in her pack.

"Ok, we can go now." Oshime stated, putting out their small fire.

"Good, let's go." Tayuya responded, walking forward.

"Are you going to continue?" Oshime asked, following after her.

"I suppose," Tayuya answered, "Anyway, after I was given that flute and a hot meal, I went back to wandering the streets aimlessly. I played my flute in the streets of any village I could, hoping for some money."

"Go on..." Oshime said.

"Well, after about a year, a man came up to me, asking if I wanted a home, and more importantly, power." Tayuya continued, "Of course, it was Orochimaru. I was nervous about accepting such a vague offer from an unknown man, but I was starving and I no longer even had much to live for, so I went with him."

"I can't say I blame you." Oshime said.

"After that, I was brought to the Sound Village, and was officially made one of Orochimaru's minions."

"How were you 'officially' made a minion?" Oshime asked.

"...It's not important." Tayuya replied, instinctively rubbing the back of her neck, where her cursed seal used to be.

Oshime nodded, noticing that Tayuya did not want to discuss it. Tayuya rubbed her neck for a few more seconds, noticing that the spot was actually a bit sore. Ever since she had almost died at the hands of Temari, she no longer had a curse mark, nor did the area hurt. Oshime glanced at the sky as the sun began to set, knowing they were still half a day away from the base at this rate.

"We've been talking for awhile," Oshime stated, "We should make camp for the night, and continue in the morning."

"Yeah, I guess." Tayuya responded, not looking as nervous as she had when they started.

Oshime slid the tenting supplies out of their packs, and set up the one tent to be used for both of them. After that was finished, they both went into the tent, and placed their packs to the side, after retrieving their sleep outfits from within. Oshime neatly removed and folded her shirt and pants, noticing with a smile that Tayuya was watching her do so. Oshime unfolded her pajama outfit, and slowly put them on, giving Tayuya some time to watch. After that was over, Tayuya removed her own shirt and pants, and tossed them into the corner, crumpled. Tayuya crinkled more as she moved, now that there was nothing restricting the movement of her diaper. Oshime gave a small chuckle at the crinkling, but restricted herself after Tayuya gave a glare. The red-haired girl slid her pants on, almost tripping as she did, and then threw her shirt on.

"Heh, now that that's done, get in bed, Crinkle-butt" Oshime said, referring to the long pillow sitting on a strip of cloth.

"Call me that again, and you'll be known as 'Red Ass'." Tayuya responded, with a smirk.

Oshime smiled, and hugged Tayuya as they lay under the blanket in the tent, flicking off the lantern that had been on.

"Good night, Cutie." Oshime said, hugging her closer.

"Yeah, yeah, night to you, too, Oshi." Tayuya responded, yawning.

Both girls fell asleep just a few moments later, embracing each other for more reasons than just warmth.

-~-

Sakura and Ino rushed to the gates of Konoha, seeing Anko there waiting for them. As they approached, they saw Anko look down at her watch. They slowed their speed as they reached her, beginning to walk.

"We're here, Anko...sensei" Ino stated, remembering the latter part after a few seconds.

"You're two minutes late, runts." Anko replied, turning to them.

Before they could apologize, Anko held one arm out to each of them, as something moved under each one. Suddenly, a snake shot out from under each sleeve, and wrapped themselves around the neck of each girl, head pointing directly at the head of the girl it was wrapped around. It was not wrapped tight enough to strangle the girl, merely support itself from falling off. Ino and Sakura stood completely motionless, scared out of their wits. If Sakura had not already wet herself just fifteen minutes prior, she would need a change right about now. Ino had luckily avoided that outcome, but just barely.

"There. Now, for the next two hours, Lefty and Mark are to remain on your shoulders." Anko stated, smiling sadistically, "Be careful...Move too suddenly, and they might bite..."

Ino and Sakura nervously walked forward, seeing Anko leaving through the gates, nearly shaking from the hissing serpents sitting on their shoulders.

"A-are these poisonous...?" Ino nervously asked.

"Hmm, I forget." Anko nonchalantly replied, increasing her walking speed, "Lefty and Mark, right? Hmm, oh well, there's an easy way to figure out, if you want..."

"N-no thanks..." Both girls replied, trying not to pass out.

Sakura hated constantly thinking about the snake on her shoulder, and hoped she could start a conversation with the ill-tempered kunoichi.

"Err, so, you used to be Orochimaru's student, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I was one of the first ten to receive his Heaven curse mark, and I was the only one of them that survived the sealing." Anko replied, rubbing her curse mark on her neck.

"What happened?" Ino replied, almost forgetting the snake on her shoulder.

"He cast me aside, like a used rag." Anko replied, solemnly, "He said I didn't have the anger or hatred required to fuel the curse mark."

"That's...horrible," Sakura replied.

"Before I could confront him about it, he had betrayed the village and escaped." Anko stated, "Ironically, the hatred that I felt towards him for abandoning me and the village was enough to sustain my cursed seal."

"I see..." Ino stated.

"If it wasn't for the wisdom and support of the Third Hokage, I don't know where I'd be." Anko stated, "He gave me support when I needed it most, and all the way up until the old man went and died at the hands of...him."

Both girls knew that she was referring to the event where the Third Hokage sacrificed his life to steal Orochimaru's soul, but only managed to seal his arms.

"Umm, if you have a cursed seal, do you also get those markings all over you?" Sakura asked, referring to the markings from the first state of the curse mark.

"No, I was able to sustain the curse mark, preventing it from killing me, but I could never activate the first state of it." Anko stated.

"Oh..." Sakura replied.

Ino had zoned out of the final part of the conversation, too busy focusing on the snake that had inched closer to her face. Ino continued walking forward, eyes directly on the snake, trying not to aggravate it. Due to that, she was not paying attention to what she was doing, and nearly tripped over a root. As she stumbled, she snake hissed, and Ino screamed like a banshee as it launched itself at her, this time unable to restrain her bladder from releasing in fear. Ino closed her eyes, expecting it to latch onto her neck. After a few seconds of feeling nothing except warm liquid down her legs, Ino opened her eyes and saw Anko holding the snake's open mouth just a hair's breath away from her jugular.

"Two hours is up, and just on time it seems." Anko stated with a sadistic smirk, "Too late for your pants, it seems, though."

Ino merely blushed, seeing Sakura trying to restrain a laugh. Anko yanked the snakes back, and they quickly began to dissolve into smoke.

"C-can we take a break so I can change my pants?" Ino asked, still blushing.

"You can." Anko responded, "I'm going to continue going. You can just catch up when you're done. Sakura probably needs to change to, since she hasn't since we left."

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks, her blood running cold at what Anko had just said.

"Wh-what did you...?" Sakura muttered, shaking.

"I'm a trained ninja, kid." Anko replied, "I can tell by how you're walking that you're wearing a diaper or something of equal thickness under there."

Sakura stood silent, thinking back to the past few months, wondering if any other villagers had noticed it, as well.

"Don't worry," Anko stated, seeing the look on her face, "Not even Tsunade knows, so I doubt anyone else knows."

"Oh..." was all Sakura could utter. She was still relieved, but it still worried her that Anko could notice.

"Listen kid, I don't care why you wear them, but as long as you don't hinder the mission, you won't here me say a word about it." Anko stated, "Oh, and don't expect me to be the one to change you, either."

Sakura blushed deeply, and nodded. She of course had no desire to ask Anko to change her, not even wanting Ino to do it.

"Well girls, be quick about it, and make sure to catch up within an hour, or else..." Anko stated, begin to tree-hop in order to increase the challenge.

Both girls watched as she quickly vanished some sight, making them nervous about catching up.

"Let's hurry up," Ino stated, slinging her pack off her shoulder.

"Yeah..." Sakura agreed, not wanting another punishment from the sadist.

Ino opened her pack, and removed a pair of leggings and panties from her pack, to replace the ones that were soaked. Sakura removed the wipes and powder from her pack, knowing that Ino still had the pack of diapers in hers.

"You'll get changed when I'm done." Ino stated.

"But, it'll be faster if we both change at the same time," Sakura responded, "We're on a time limit!"

"It won't take long," Ino responded, "Besides, you know I don't want you changing yourself, unless you have no other choice."

"...No" Sakura stated, taking a stand.

"Oh? Is little Sakura being naughty?" Ino mocked.

"I'm tired of your nonsense. I'm not letting you change me anymore, or tell me what to do." Sakura stated, fire in her eyes.

"Well, looks like someone's being naughty _and_ wasting our time." Ino replied, "I'll give you ten seconds to apologize, or you'll regret it."

"Bite me" Sakura replied, "Tell everyone in the village for all I care. I think you have more fun torturing me than you would telling everyone, so go ahead and lose your fun."

"Oh well, I guess you won't apologize." Ino stated.

"Damn right I won't-" Sakura stated cut off by Ino grabbing her.

"Then I guess you'll be punished" Ino responded, grabbing her.

Ino sat down, and yanked Sakura with her, pulling her over her lap as she did so. Sakura was not expecting it, so Ino managed to get it done. Sakura could feel Ino's warm, wet lap against her stomach, before Ino slid her down so her rear was facing up towards Ino. Sakura struggled against Ino, not yet using her massive strength against her.

"Stop it, Sakura, or else this'll just be worse." Ino stated, sliding Sakura's pants down.

"You think I can't outdo you?" Sakura stated, "'I'm so much stronger than you are."

"You know what they say, 'Brains before brawn'," Ino replied, "If you don't stop struggling, I'll just use a Mental jutsu on you that'll prevent you from moving."

Sakura scowled, but could tell Ino was serious. She pondered her options, and then sighed, stopping her thrashing.

"Good girl," Ino mocked, "Just for that, this'll be short."

Sakura did not know what Ino meant, but realized quickly after thinking about the way she was sprawled over her lap, rear in the air. Sakura almost began struggling again, but knew it'd be futile against Ino's mental jutsu. The blond girl slid Sakura's pants down to her ankles, and untaped her diaper to expose her rear. Sakura blushed as Ino's hand gave it a quick pat, before raising it into the air. Without a word, Ino brought her hand down hard against Sakura's rear, eliciting a yelp from the pink-haired girl. Ino re-raised her hand, and spanked again, this time a bit harder. This continued for three more spanks, each harder than the last. By the time the last one was administered, Sakura had to hold back her tears, as it hurt quite a bit. However, it was no where near as bad as the spanking she received in the genjutsu.

"There, now are you going to be a good girl for Ino?" Ino asked, mockingly.

"...Yes..." Sakura answered begrudgingly.

"Good, now stay just like this, as I go get changed, ok?" Ino said, sliding Sakura off her lap, and onto the ground.

Sakura blushed as she laid there, nude red rear exposed to the chilly air. She did not want to admit that the cool air felt good against her throbbing rear, especially at how embarrassed she was to be in this state outside. She knew nobody was around except for Ino, but the embarrassment was still there. Ino walked out of sight of Sakura, and dropped her purple skirt and gray leggings. She pulled her purple panties down also, disgusted at the feeling of them "unpeeling" from her skin. She tossed her leggings and underwear into the forest, deeming them unwearable, even if they had gone through the wash a few times. Ino used a few tissues to wipe herself clean, despite having Sakura's baby wipes available for use. She unfolded the striped pair from her pack, and slid it up her legs, followed by another pair of gray leggings. She waited a minute or two more, wanting to add to Sakura's embarrassment. She eventually walked out from the trees, and over to the still red faced Sakura.

"There we go, I'm all clean. Time to get you clean, as well." Ino mentioned, rolling her onto her back.

Sakura stayed silent, knowing any reaction would just give Ino satisfaction. The already untaped diaper did not take the transition with Sakura, merely lying on the ground where she was. Ino wiped Sakura's privates, this time using the actual wet wipes, and quickly powdered her, knowing they were running out of time. She slid a new diaper under her, and taped it up. Sakura quickly pulled her own pants up, before Ino had the chance, and turned to face the direction that Anko had continued traveling.

"C'mon, we'd better catch up." Sakura stated.

"Ok, Sakura, that means no stopping for a change~." Ino mocked.

"Shut it" Sakura merely said, jumping to the trees after she did.

Ino quickly followed, rapidly hopping after Sakura through the trees. After they had hopped for awhile at a higher speed than usual, a small purplish figure appeared, and began to grow larger in form until Anko's visage became clear. They slowed down their tree-hopping until they were about a body length behind her, maintaining Anko's speed and sighing in relief.

"Hah, three minutes to go!" Ino yelled triumphantly.

"Indeed, you've got three minutes left..." Anko replied, not turning around.

The three stayed silent for the next few hours as they continued tree-hopping, the sun slowly setting. As night began to approach, Anko stopped, and hopped below the trees to the ground below. Ino and Sakura followed, wondering what was up. As they fell, Anko looked over to them.

"We'll make camp here for the night, and continue for the base tomorrow." Anko said, "We'll also address the matter of your punishment, runts."

"Punishment!?" Ino questioned, astonished, "But we made it with three minutes to spare!"

"Your mission was to catch up to me," Anko stated, "You merely stayed a half dozen feet behind me once you got close enough to communicate. That's not catching up."

"You just got us on a technicality!" Sakura pleaded, "That's not fair!"

"Tough luck." Anko replied, "You punks should have listened to the rules better."

Sakura and Ino wanted to argue more, but they knew that that would only make the sadist's punishment even worse. They merely sighed and sat down by the campfire that Anko was starting. After the fire had been completed, the three girls sat around it, eating their dinner. Anko ate a bit more dango than the other two ate, her love for the dumplings seemingly overwhelming the need to ration food. After dinner, Anko set her own tent up, and Ino and Sakura began to setup their own. Before they could begin, Anko stopped them, and told them that they would have to share a tent, as part of the punishment. Neither argued, as it seemed like a minor punishment, and assembled a tent. After they had finished, the three kunoichi entered the two tents and changed into their sleep clothes. For Anko, this was merely removing her trenchcoat, although that meant her breasts were visible behind the mesh of her top. Ino and Sakura faced the other direction as they changed, each changing into a long shirt that reached their knees. After they had finished, they laid next to each other on the one pillow, each thinking the other was too close.

"Oh, before I forget, here's the rest of your punishment," Anko's voice said as her arm poked through the tent entrance.

Before either girl could say anything, at least twenty snakes slithered into the tent, surrounding the two girls.

"Enjoy, I'll remove them in the morning!" Anko's voice said, her hand waving as her arm exited the tent.

Ino and Sakura gripped each other in fear, the snakes hissing and glaring at them, but not moving yet. They nearly cried as the looked at the serpents, wondering if they would ever get to sleep this night. It took awhile, but each girl did manage to fall asleep eventually, not just hugging each other to remain warm.


	4. Rift

**Chapter 4 – Rift**

Oshime was the first to wake up the following morning, due to the sun streaming through the door of the tent. Either her or Tayuya had shifted as they slept, as Tayuya was currently resting her head against Oshime's bosom with one arm draped over the silver-haired girl's mid-section. Oshime smiled at this, and ran her hands through Tayuya's unkempt hair. After a minute or two, Oshime felt something warm and wet, and realized that the redhead was drooling onto her chest. Oshime sighed, and lightly shook Tayuya.

"C'mon, Tayu, time to wake up." Oshime said gently.

Oshime received naught but gibberish in response, as Tayuya rolled off Oshime's body and continued sleeping and drooling. Oshime shook her head, and wiped what she could off of her shirt with the blanket.

"C'mon Tayuya, wake up." Oshime said, shaking her a bit harder.

"...Fine, fine, I'm up..." Tayuya mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

She sat up, and stretched out, yawning as she did.

"Ok, let's get changed, and then we can have a quick breakfast before we continue on our way." Oshime stated.

"Eh...yeah..." Tayuya muttered, still half asleep.

Oshime looked at Tayuya, and realized that she was not going to do much in the daze she would be in for the next few minutes. Knowing time was important, Oshime took it upon herself to change Tayuya into her clothes instead of waiting for her to get out of her stupor. She bent down to Tayuya, and pulled the girl's shirt above her head, receiving little more than a "muh..." from Tayuya. Next, she unclasped the girl's bra, and removed that, exposing her bare chest. Oshime smiled at this, but restrained herself from doing anything with them, once again knowing that time was still passing. She opened Tayuya's pack, and removed a new shirt and bra, teal and white, respectively. She quickly changed Tayuya into them, and laid the redhead down onto the floor, ready to change her diaper. She had not checked if it was wet, but Tayuya had yet to go a night without wetting so it was a safe assumption, she reckoned. She removed Tayuya's pants, and folded them neatly, laying them on top of the other two articles she had been wearing, also folded neatly. As she had assumed, Tayuya's diaper was very wet, close to leaking. Tayuya was a bit more awake than she was before, but did not impede Oshime from continuing. Oshime removed the sodden garment, and sealed it into a trash scroll that would be emptied later. Grabbing the wipes and powder from the pack, she cleaned Tayuya's privates and powdered the area. She reluctantly made it quick, not wanting to be a hypocrite by wasting time for her own pleasure. She slid a new diaper under her, and taped it snugly against her, sliding the new pair of sweatpants over it.

''Thanks, Oshime." Tayuya stated, yawning again.

"Awake, are we?" Oshime asked rhetorically, "Or were you just faking because you're too lazy to do anything yourself?"

Tayuya merely rolled her eyes, and sat up.

"You know, you got to change me, it's only fair that I get to change you." She stated, smirking.

"Heh, well, I'm not in a daze, nor do I wear diapers, so I fail to see the point." Oshime replied, also smirking.

"Consider it your payment for letting you change me all the time." Tayuya responded.

"Well, if you insist..." Oshime stated, giving a wink, "Just hurry up, we don't want to waste too much time."

"Heh, alright." Tayuya replied.

Oshime stayed standing, waiting for Tayuya to make her move. The redhead smirked, and slid Oshime's shirt of off her, tossing it to the side. Oshime bit her lip, not wanting to interrupt Tayuya, but also hating her clothes to be strewn about so sloppily. Tayuya fumbled a bit with Oshime's bra, but managed to undo it after a couple attempts and lob it into the corner of the tent. Tayuya gave a smirk, Oshime's face a bit reddened. Tayuya slowly slid her fingers into the waistband of Oshime's pants, and slid them down her legs gently. Oshime tried to ignore the time factor, but found herself unable to, paying more attention to how much time they were wasting, than Tayuya's actions. Tayuya's fingers soon clasped onto Oshime's blue panties, and yanked them off, indiscriminately throwing them.

"Hehe, it's been awhile..." Tayuya said, eyes glued to Oshime's nude body.

Oshime listened to Tayuya's words, not quite sure what she menat at first. Her thought was interrupted as Tayuya tackled her to the ground, beginning to kiss Oshime on the neck.

"Nnn-Tayuya!" Oshime moaned, trying to get the girl to listen.

"You like?" Tayuya asked, her finger beginning to circle Oshime's privates.

"Ah...Y-yes, but n-not now..." Oshime responded, feeling the pleasure pour through her body.

Tayuya ignored her, and continued kissing her body, moving her kisses slowly down her body from her neck towards her breasts, as he finger plunged itself into Oshime.

"G-gah! O-oh...T-Tayuya, I-I love this, but we really don't have time." Oshime moaned, trying not to change her mind.

"Don't be such a downer..." Tayuya muttered, kissing Oshime breast as her finger did its work.

"N-no, I'm serious!" Oshime stated, pushing away from Tayuya, "We have a mission!"

She shuddered at the sudden lack of pleasure, almost regretting her decision, especially after seeing the annoyed look on Tayuya's face.

"Dammit Oshime, it's been long enough since the last time!" Tayuya shouted, "I only took this damn mission because I wanted to spend some time with you, since you've been too busy running around on various missions!"

"Tayuya..." Oshime replied, "I'm sorry, I really am, but you know these missions are important."

"Yeah, and evidently you they're more important to you than I am..." Tayuya said, stomping out of the tent.

Despite her current state of attire, or lack thereof, Oshime ran after Tayuya. The morning was brisk and windy, chilling Oshime's naked body quickly. The temperature did not stop her from running up to Tayuya and embracing her in a loving hug from behind.

"You know that's not true." Oshime stated, not letting go.

"Then why does it seem like it?" Tayuya asked, her eyes closed.

"Because you want more attention, and I [i]should[/i] be giving it to you," Oshime replied, "I'm sorry, please."

"When this mission is over, I want you to take a long vacation from missions." Tayuya replied.

"Not only that, but when we complete this mission, I'll give you what you wanted in there ten times over." Oshime smirked, giving Tayuya a kiss on the cheek.

Tayuya gave a small smile, and pulled Oshime from her back to her front in order to return the hug. After a few seconds of embracing, Tayuya let Oshime go, and smirked.

"Heh, I should finish changing you before you catch a cold." Tayuya said.

"Heh, I guess so." Oshime replied, pulling Tayuya towards the tent, "Just no naughty business this time."

"Bah, you're no fun." Tayuya stated with a wink.

The two re-entered the tent in order to finish getting Oshime dressed, Tayuya grabbing the pack with her clothes, while Oshime stood waiting. Tayuya removed Oshime's change of clothes from the pack, and turned to Oshime. They both gave a smile as Tayuya grabbed the red bra and helped Oshime into it, followed by matching underwear. After that, Tayuya quickly helped Oshime into her black pants and gray shirt, giving her a pat on the butt afterwards, just as Oshime tended to do to her.

"C'mon, a quick breakfast, and then we'll be on our way." Oshime stated.

"Sure, ok." Tayuya responded, reaching over to grab her pack.

After a quick breakfast, the two girls packed up the tent and their items, and continued on the way towards the base, now tree-hopping instead of walking. The two girls spent the day rushing through trees towards their destination, stopping only twice; once for Tayuya to be changed, and once for Oshime to relieve herself. As the sun set, Oshime thought about the coordinates of the base, and slowed down, dropping to the forest floor below. Tayuya saw her, and dropped down to where she was.

"Something wrong?" Tayuya asked.

"We should be about fifteen minutes from the base, if I'm not mistaken." Oshime replied.

"Oh, well, what are we waiting for then, let's go!" Tayuya stated with enthusiasm.

"No, we'll sleep here tonight, and go there tomorrow." Oshime replied.

"Huh, why? We're right here." Tayuya questioned.

"Yeah, but it's late, we haven't eaten, we're exhausted, and you probably need a change." Oshime replied, "We'll rest up tonight, and be ready for tomorrow."

"Eh, I guess that makes sense." Tayuya replied, "...And yes, you were right."

"Heh, I figured as much," Oshime said, "You can't go very long without flooding yourself." Oshime stuck her tongue out at Tayuya as she said this.

Tayuya returned the gesture, and then laughed. Oshime joined her in laughter, and began pulling the tent out her pack. After they had gotten it set up, the two of them ate their dinner outside it, making small talk as they did. After dinner, the two entered the tent, preparing for bed.

"So, since I assume that you'll be changing me again, who gets changed first?" Oshime asked.

"Heh, well I was changed first last time, so looks like you'll be first this time." Tayuya replied, smirking.

"Heh, ok then. Go ahead." Oshime responded, with a wink.

Tayuya smiled, and slid Oshime's pants down over her shoes. Tayuya surprised Oshime greatly by folding the pants, although it was far from neatly. She placed them to the side, and turned back to Oshime.

"Wow, I might pass out from shock." Oshime mocked.

"Haha...just be quiet and let me change you." Tayuya replied.

Oshime giggled, and stood still, waiting for her to continue. Tayuya clutched the bottom of Oshime's shirt, and lifted it off of her head, sliding her long silver hair through the neck hole. Tayuya reached into Oshime's pack, in order to grab the outfit for her to sleep in, but she was interrupted by Oshime.

"You know, this is ok to sleep in," Oshime stated, only in her underwear, "I owe you for before."

"You sure?" Tayuya asked with a smile, "It's pretty cold out here."

"I guess that means I'll just need something warm to hold against me, huh?" Oshime answered, winking.

Tayuya smiled, and laid down, ready for Oshime to change her. Oshime got on her knees, and slid the shirt off of Tayuya, somehow not messing up her mostly unkempt hair. Oshime slid Tayuya's pants down, and removed the diaper that was ready to leak. Oshime deftly went through the changing process, this time prolonging the powdering even longer than she usually did. After she had gotten Tayuya into a dry diaper, she stood back up.

"You know, if I'm going to sleep in my underwear, so should you." Oshime said with a smirk.

"Oh? Well, I dunno..." Tayuya replied, "My underwear isn't nearly as sexy as yours."

"Yeah, but you more than make up for that, Crinkle-butt." Oshime answered, pulling Tayuya under the blankets before she had a chance to decide.

The two girls hugged each other in their state of undress, Tayuya crinkling with every motion. Despite the cold night, they both were warm against the other, quickly falling asleep just moments later.

-~-

Ino was the first to wake up, the sight of the snakes still hissing nearly making her faint. She noticed that Sakura was still asleep, huddled up against Ino, sucking her thumb gently. Ino gave a triumphant smile as she saw her, as if she had won some battle over Sakura due to this. Sakura opened her eyes a few moments later, yawning around her thumb. It took a couple of seconds for her to realize what she was doing, and blushed as she removed her thumb and wiped it on the blanket. She sat up, and remembered the snakes as she heard their hissing. She jumped back as she saw the snakes, remembering the actions of the night before.

"I-I take it Anko isn't up yet..." Sakura muttered, shaking.

Ino just nodded, afraid she'd scream if she opened her mouth. As she nodded, she looked at Sakura, who looked equally as afraid. Both girls inched backwards as much as they could, scared as the snakes slithered closer to them. Suddenly, each snake increased their slithering speed, hissing louder. Without warning, they launched at Ino and Sakura, who hugged each other in fear, screaming loudly. Right before the snakes bit them, they dissolved into the air, followed by the tent's door opening.

"Ready to go, runts?" Anko asked, as if the snakes were never there, "Oh, how touching, you're hugging. Well, while you've been hugging, I've been getting ready for us to go. So hurry up and get dressed, or you'll be traveling naked."

Both girls looked at each other, and then pushed the other away, annoyed that they had hugged, even if it was due to fear. Anko's head left the tent, letting them know that she was waiting outside by tapping her foot against the ground.

"Let's get you changed before you leak all over the tent." Ino said mockingly, "Plus I don't want Little Sakura to get a rash."

"Just hurry up before Anko gets impatient..." Sakura muttered, afraid that Anko would hear them.

Ino merely grabbed Sakura's shirt, and removed it, exposing her bra and wet diaper.

"Well, [i]someone's[/i] a heavy wetter." Ino mocked, seeing the wet diaper.

"J-just hurry up and change me..." Sakura muttered, too worried about Anko getting angry to care about Ino changing her.

Ino gave a cruel smirk, and removed Sakura's diaper, making a big show of holding her nose and announcing how bad the acrid smell of urine emanating from the used garment was. Sakura scowled, but knew arguing would only take time that they may not have left. Ino went through the process of changing her, stretching it out with the intent to embarrass the pink-haired girl. Sakura recognized this, but her pleas to hurry up went ignored, as she expected. After the change, Sakura was expecting Ino to try to change Sakura into her clothes for the day, but was surprised when Ino grabbed her own clothes for the day. Sakura thought she was allowed to change into her own outfit, and reached for her pack.

"No, I'll get you dressed when I'm done getting changed." Ino stated, that cruel smirk still on her face.

"Yeah, but-" Sakura started.

"No buts, unless you want yours to be reddened again." Ino threatened, as if talking to a child.

Sakura fumed, but restrained her anger, knowing that it would only lead to trouble down the road. Ino slid her own shirt off, exposing her own underwear, flaunting its maturity compared to Sakura's. Sakura crossed her arms and turned away, before realizing how childish that looked. Ino undid her bra and dropped it to the floor, sliding her panties down as well. Sakura made sure not to look, knowing that Ino would have quite a few comments to say if she saw her. Ino put on a new set of underwear, grabbing her sleeveless purple shirt to put on, despite the brisk temperature outside. She slid it on, and grabbed her skirt and leggings. Before she was able to get them on, Anko slid her head into the tent and shouted.

"Time's up!" She yelled, looking at each girl, "You travel in what you're wearing."

"W-what!?" Ino shouted, "B-but, Anko-sensei, please give us more time!"

"Nope, sorry!" She responded, cheerily, "I gave you all the time you needed, but you wasted it, so off we go!"

As she said that, Anko yanked the tent off of the ground, exposing the girls to the outside world. They both blushed, knowing that no one was around, but still embarrassed to be dressed the way they were. Sakura was much more embarrassed than Ino was, only wearing her bra and diaper, while Ino had a shirt to cover her bra, even though her panties were on display for all to see. Both girls tried to plead for the rest of their outfit, citing the cold temperature, but stopped when Anko threatened to take away the rest of their clothes if they argued more. They reluctantly packed their tent and retrieved what was theirs, blushing all the while. Anko did not seem fazed by the clothes they were wearing, but then again, she wore only a mesh top, a trenchcoat and a miniskirt, so modesty was not big with her.

"C'mon girls, we should arrive at the base tonight, but we'll camp outside for the night and enter in the morning." Anko stated.

"Uhh, right..." Both girls replied, each paying more attention to their state of dress than what Anko was saying.

Both girls jumped as Anko did, tree-hopping at the same speed that she was. Sakura was mortified to discover that her diaper's crinkle was a lot louder without her pants, especially at the speed that she was moving. She could tell that both Anko and Ino could hear her crinkling, seeing Ino trying not to laugh and Anko turning to look at the source of the sound before seeing Sakura and nodding, turning back around. Ino felt the chill of the air, especially at the speed they were moving, thinking her sleeveless shirt not to be the best choice, plus the lack of pants led to her being quite cold. She tried to place the temperature out of her mind, which also helped distract her from the lack of pants. Sakura tried to do the same, but the loud sound of her diaper prevented her from doing it. However, despite not wearing a shirt, she was a bit warmer than Ino, due to the bulk of her diaper.

"Ugh, I hate this..." Ino muttered, not intending anyone to hear her.

"Keep moving, and stay quiet or you'll be traveling naked" Anko shouted back, not even turning towards her.

Ino stayed quiet, knowing that Anko would probably make good on that plan, and not wanting to test her. The three kunoichi continued for hours, stopping just once, since Ino and Anko needed to urinate, while Sakura needed a change. Anko did not care that Ino basically forced Sakura into allowing the blond to change her, not knowing what their relationship was, nor wanting to interfere. After the three had finished, they headed for the base once more. After a few more hours, the three stopped to make camp, knowing that the base was right around the next hill. After they had some food, they set up camp, both girls noticing that Anko had only set up one tent for the two of them, once again letting the remaining go unused. Neither argued, as it was not that big of a deal, especially since arguing might lead to less clothes for the next day.

"Don't bother getting changed, just sleep in what you have on," Anko stated, "I want you to get as much sleep as possible."

Both girls sighed, knowing that Anko just wanted to annoy them some more. Sakura was lucky that she did not need to be changed yet, not wanting to have to sit in a wet diaper for hours. Ino and Sakura looked at each other awkwardly before laying under the single blanket, as far apart as they could be while still staying under it. Each girl fell asleep moments later, having slid closer to each other as they did.


	5. Infiltration

**Chapter 5 – Infiltration**

As the morning hit, the sun streamed through the tent, along with a gust of wind, blowing the loose blanket off of Tayuya and Oshime's mostly unclothed bodies. Both girls were awaked by the sudden lack of warmth they experienced, instinctively pulling the blanket back over themselves.

"C'mon, let's get ready to go." Oshime stated, sitting up.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tayuya replied, yawning and stretching.

Oshime pulled the blanket off of them, eliciting a shiver from Tayuya in response. Oshime stretched, and stood up, walking over to her pack in the corner.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Tayuya asked, looking over, "You know that I'm the one that gets to change you."

"Oh, right," Oshime responded, honestly forgetting that he had promised that, "Well hurry up then."

Tayuya sat up, and walked over to Oshime, crinkling with every motion. Oshime stood still, waiting for Tayuya to begin. The red-haired girl removed the new outfit from the bag, blue sweatpants and an orange long sleeve shirt, and turned to Oshime. Oshime allowed Tayuya to get the new outfit onto her, although the sweatpants were originally slid on backwards. After she had her outfit on, Oshime reached into her pack, and removed her cloak from within. It was not a full-body cloak like the Akatsuki cloak, it was connected at the collar, but spread away from the other side as it went down her body. The cloak was black, with a green dragon on the back, spewing bright flames from its mouth.

"Wearing your cloak?" Tayuya questioned, "You haven't worn that this entire trip."

"Well, today we enter the base, so it seems fitting," Oshime replied.

"I guess." Tayuya shrugged.

"Ok, now it's your turn," Oshime said, pointing to Tayuya's visibly wet diaper.

Tayuya blushed a bit, but nodded, lying down on her back. Oshime pulled the changing supplies out of the pack, and proceeded to change Tayuya into a dry diaper, along with her outfit for the day, which consisted of black sweatpants and a gray long-sleeve shirt with flaps similar to the ones on her outfit from a few years ago. On her chest, was a Taoist taijitu, as well as one on her back.

"Shall we prepare to head out?" Oshime asked.

"Yeah, want me to take care of the tent, while you figure out which way to go?" Tayuya asked.

"Err, no...thanks, I'll take care of the tent," Oshime replied, "I don't want to break this tent..." she added under her breath.

"What was that?" Tayuya questioned.

"Umm, nothing." Oshime replied quickly.

Tayuya rolled her eyes, and walked through the tent's entrance flap to the bright outside. The wind was strong this morning, nearly knocking the tent over with its next gust. Tayuya sat on a rock outside of their tent, waiting for Oshime to finish up. After a few minutes, Oshime exited the tent, and began disassembling it. She collected each piece, and neatly tucked them away into its case, while Tayuya watched.

"Ready yet?" Tayuya asked, looking bored.

"Ok, we can go now" Oshime replied, shaking her head, "But you're too impatient."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Tayuya stated, sitting up.

Both girls headed in the direction of the base, tree-hopping at average speed. After they had direction down pat, Oshime was surprised to see that Tayuya had taken the lead, as Oshime was always the one who led the way. After about fifteen or twenty minutes, the two girls saw something on the forest floor just ahead, and dropped down to approach it. Due to the treetops, it was a bit dark down on the ground, so the two girls could not make out the object without getting closer. They both approached it slowly and cautiously, but soon came to realize that it was a giant snake's head, made of stone, with its mouth open wide. It was at least ten feet tall, and contained some type of green gemstone for eyes.

"I guess this is the entrance..." Oshime stated, looking at the figure in awe.

"Yeah, appears so." Tayuya replied, looking into the darkness created by its mouth.

"It's probably rigged with at least one trap, right?" Oshime questioned.

"Doubt it," Tayuya replied, "The ANBU made it through fine. Besides, Orochimaru was not one for entrance traps. He preferred to let the enemy get inside before attacking them, as with the case of the ANBU."

"Ah, I see." Oshime remarked, impressed with Tayuya's analysis.

Despite her words, both girls entered the entrance slowly, ready for any possible traps. As they walked into the darkness, Oshime created a small fire floating above her hand to light the way. They soon saw some torches lit ahead of them, and continued towards them. The corridor was lined with lit torches on each side, giving enough light for them to continue onwards.

"Ah, more visitors?" A voice suddenly spoke, piercing the silence.

The voice was coming through a loudspeaker attached to the wall, somewhat garbled. Both Oshime and Tayuya looked at each other, and then back to the loudspeaker, waiting to see how the voice would continue.

"How interesting..." He continued, "If you want to die, continue your pitiful infiltration. If you want to live, you're free to live as long as you don't go any further ahead."

"Sorry buddy, but we're not leaving so easily," Tayuya responded.

"Tayuya, don't goad him, just ignore his comments," Oshime stated, "The less obstacles we have to face, the better."

"Suit yourselves," The voice replied, "But if you enter, you won't be leaving."

As he spoke, the torches on the wall increased their intensity, lighting the corridor better than before. As the end was a door, that opened slowly as they watched, revealing more of the corridor. The girls looked at each other, and continued forward, lit by the yellowish fire. As they continued forward, Tayuya stopped suddenly.

"Jump" She simply said, jumping across the next three feet of ground.

Oshime hesitated, but did the same, landing a few inches behind where Tayuya had. Once her feet hit the ground, she felt a sudden lack of support on the last inch or two of her heel. She swayed a bit, but maintained her balance, stumbling forward a bit. She turned behind her, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"What was that?" Oshime asked, looking towards Tayuya.

Tayuya did not respond, merely picking up a pebble from the ground, and tossing it towards the ground that they had leapt over. Oshime watched as the pebble passed right through the ground, as if it was not even there.

"...How did you know that was going to happen?" Oshime questioned, still staring at where the pebble had fallen.

"The torches." Tayuya replied, pointing to one of the ones hanging on the wall, "The little ashes, specifically."

Oshime looked, and noticed that every torch had a small pile of ash under them, about a centimeter high, except for the two torches on either side of the section in question.

"You knew it was a fake floor simply by that?" Oshime questioned.

"No, but I knew there was something special about that spot." She responded, "But when I saw you stumble, I had a good idea what it was."

"Wow..." Oshime simple remarked, even more impressed than before.

Oshime cautiously stuck her hand through the floor, not feeling anything other than the air around her. When her hand came back fine, she stuck her head inside, to see what was down there, seeing a long pit lined with spikes at the bottom, coated with blood, along with two impaled ANBU masks.

"Two of the ANBU seemed to have met their death by that pit" Oshime stated, pulling her head out.

"Any bodies?" Tayuya asked.

"Nope, just blood and two masks. Most ANBU will destroy their bodies if they are killed, to prevent the enemy from receiving any secrets hidden within." Oshime replied.

Tayuya nodded, and turned back to the path, walking forward. Oshime followed after her, looking for any other signs of traps that she could spot. They continued walking for a few minutes, not spotting any other traps. They soon reached a fork in the corridor, with a left, a straight, and a right pathway.

"Which way?" Oshime asked, looking down each one.

"Splitting up is a bad idea, so let's just take the left one." Tayuya responded.

Oshime nodded, and followed her down that path. They continued walking, eventually reaching the end of this corridor, which led into a large room, which was quite dark. As they stepped inside, the lights flickered on with a buzz, due to being electric lights instead of the torches from before. Both girls gasped at what they saw inside, seeing multiple, human-sized tubes filled with a cloudy liquid. In the main section of the room was a tube with clearer liquid and a body floating inside. As they walked closer to the tube, they saw the figure inside a bit clearer. She was about their age, fully clothed, with long black hair. The liquid in the tube suddenly began to deplete, until the tube merely contained the girl. As soon as the tube had emptied, it began to rise, the girl inside merely staying attached to the wires that were around her.

"Wh-who is that...?" Oshime muttered.

"I've no idea..." Tayuya replied, watching as the wires detached themselves, and the girl flopped to the floor.

Neither girl knew how to react, but had no need to make a decision, as the girl stood up, and looked over to them.

"Haha, do you like it?" The voice from before boomed, through a loudspeaker somewhere in the room, "It's a clone, of one of Lord Orochimaru's previous henchman."

"A clone..." Tayuya muttered, staring at the inhuman work of her previous master.

"So, that voice isn't Orochimaru?" Oshime asked.

"No, I could tell that from the beginning." Tayuya replied, "Nor is it his right hand man, Kabuto."

"Ok then, we'll just have to find out who it is." Oshime replied, turning back to the girl, who had begun to walk slowly over.

As the girl walked, Tayuya examined her. She felt as if she knew the girl, but was unaware of from where. Tayuya looked at her outfit, the gray camouflage design and olive green shirt enhancing that feeling of acquaintance.

"Wait...no, it can't be..." Tayuya muttered.

"What's wrong?" Oshime asked, looking over to see a shocked look of her partner's face.

"Kin..." Tayuya replied simply, as the clone smirked.

-~-

As the sun rose, both Ino and Sakura found themselves woken up by the sudden lack of their tent, Anko once again having yanked it from the ground, this time in order to wake the two girls up. As they shot awake, the blanket was also ripped from their bodies, exposing their undressed forms to the cold morning air.

"Get dressed, we're going in today." Anko stated nonchalantly.

"Right..." Both girls replied, each expecting some random warning or threat from the Special Jounin.

Anko merely turned around, and walked to a log near the tent to sit down and wait for them. Both girls decided not to question their luck, and went about getting changed for the mission ahead. Ino was still a bit afraid of Anko and what she could do, so she decided to let Sakura change herself for once, not wanting to risk taking too long. Ino changed into her standard purple outfit, a sleeveless shirt and a short skirt, along with some mesh. Sakura changed into her standard as well, although with the addition of a dry diaper, of course. After the two girls had finished, they walked over to where Anko was sitting. The purple-haired woman merely nodded, a serious look on her face as she stood up and leapt for the trees above. Ino and Sakura followed her, each surprised that there was no punishment or embarrassing situation for them as they traveled. After just twenty or so minutes, the trio spotted a formation in the distance, and ran up to it. It was another large snake's head, with yellow gems for eyes.

"I suppose we go inside..." Sakura mentioned, looking at the large snake.

"Hmm, indeed" Anko replied, walking through calmly.

"What about traps?" Ino asked.

"Don't worry, the traps come later." Anko replied, continuing to walk forward.

Sakura and Ino glanced at each other, before following her into the base. They walked inside, noticing it get progressively darker, until suddenly all the torches in sight sparked up with greenish fire. Anko looked around, but continued ahead, hearing the girls follow her. After a short duration, Anko stopped, holding her arm out to signify that the other two should stop, as well. They both did, looking to see if there was anything amiss. Neither girl saw anything, but Anko seemed to be expecting something. Quickly, a snake shot from Anko's sleeve, and slithered across the ground. It traveled a few feet in front of them, until it was suddenly skewered by the multiple spikes that had shot from the ceiling. The snake dissolved as it was pierced, fading into the chakra that created it.

"Yikes..." Ino replied, reacting to the trap.

"Indeed" Anko replied, walking around the spikes.

"Wait, what about more traps!?" Sakura shouted as Anko slipped by them.

"We're safe for now," Anko replied, "Hurry up."

Ino and Sakura weaved through the spikes, following after Anko. After a few minutes, they were interrupted by a voice and static.

"Hmm, more visitors?" The voice stated through the loudspeaker system.

"More?" Anko mumbled.

"Who are you!?" Ino shouted.

"Your enemy, it appears." The voice replied, "I hope I'll be seeing you in person, but I'm not sure you'll survive to get that far..."

"Show yourself, Orochimaru!" Ino shouted at the loudspeaker.

"That's not Orochimaru," Anko replied, "The voice is staticky, but I know that it's not his."

"Ah..." Ino replied, somewhat embarrassed about yelling at the wrong person.

"Let's continue" Anko replied, walking ahead.

The two girls followed after Anko, noticing that the corridor was beginning to slop downward. After a few minutes, the slope was a bit hard to traverse, but quickly ended in a door. As they approached, the door opened slowly, revealing an enormous square room, lit by electric lights throughout the ceiling. The ceiling was about fifteen feet above them, and the room was at least three hundred feet by three hundred feet. Before they had a chance to examine the room, a figure fell right in front of them. He ran his hand through his cyan hair, while his deep purple eyes glanced over to them.

"Who are you!?" Sakura shouted at him, "Are you the guy who spoke to us before?"

"No, he is not." The voice said from the loudspeaker behind him, "He's just your first opponent. His name is...actually, I'll let him tell you that..."

"Who am I, you ask? What is this thing called 'identity', and who is to determine what an acceptable identity constitutes in this world of ours? If one does not possess the minutia known as a name, is his existence questionable? If so, then what of our physical forms? Are they empty shells searching for a soul to complete themselves?" He rambled, "Or are they mere illusions, created by one's brain to cope with the loss of one's true self? Simple puppets meant to seem like living souls while they traverse this barren world, empty and meaningless, without hope or aspirations to empower their being."

The three kunoichi stared blankly at his words, not even finding the answer they were looking for in that long rambling speech.

"But I suppose you wish me to answer to your specifications, not mine?" He continued, "Fine then, you may call me Yawatanoyabushirazu Atamagaokashii, and I am the one whom shall be freeing your souls from these earthly bodies."


	6. Kin Tsuchi and That Other Guy

**Chapter 6: Kin Tsuchi and...That Other Guy**

Tayuya stared at the clone, shocked at who she believed that it was. It was undoubtedly the face of Kin Tsuchi, her comrade back from the Sound Village. She looked older for sure, as old as she would be if she had not become a human sacrifice for Orochimaru's revival of one of the past Hokages, but there was no doubt in Tayuya's mind at who she was a clone of.

"Well, well, Tayuya," Kin began, "As sharp as ever I see."

"Tayuya, who is this?" Oshime asked, looking between the two.

"Kin Tsuchi, from my home village," Tayuya replied, "She was probably the closest thing to a friend I ever had back there."

"I'm flattered, really," Kin replied, sarcastically, "But there's no way you're leaving this room alive."

"Heh, I was always the better fighter back in the village," Tayuya said, "Clone or not, what makes you think that's changed?"

"This." Kin replied, suddenly behind Tayuya.

"Wha-" Before Tayuya could even react, she was kicked to the side, into the wall.

"Tayuya!" Oshime shouted, drawing her sword.

"Ugh..." Tayuya stated, pulling herself to her feet, "Oshime, stay out of this, this is my fight."

"But, Tayuya!" Oshime started.

"No, I need to be the one to beat her." Tayuya replied, removing her flute from it's holder.

"Too bad that's not going to happen." Kin stated, smirking.

Tayuya placed her flute to her lips, and channeled her chakra through it. With the blaring of notes, bursts of compressed air launched from her flute one after the other. Kin dodged each one, and ran up to Tayuya to punch her right in the face. Tayuya ducked, and attempted to headbutt Kin right in the gut. Kin responded by moving back enough to avoid the headbutt, and jump over Tayuya, attempting to kick her into the ground. Tayuya rolled out of the way, and attempted to sweep Kin's feet from under her when they hit the ground. Kin took the hit, but used her arms to support herself while she flipped over and brought her legs back down towards Tayuya. The redhead rolled, jumping to her feet to punch Kin, who leapt backwards just before the punch connected.

"Not bad, Tayuya" Kin remarked, smirking, "But now I get serious."

Kin slid her hand into her pouch on her rear, pulling out a few round objects. Tayuya recognized them as the bells that Kin was known for. Tayuya brought her lips back to her flute, planning another jutsu. Before she could, Kin smirked and held out one of the bells.

"Sonic Ricochet" She stated, flicking the bell.

An ear-piercing sound seemed to blare from every direction, and echo from all other directions. Tayuya shouted as her ears felt like they were going to tear themselves apart, as she fell to her knees. Oshime felt her ears hurt as well, but it seems that it was concentrated on Tayuya, as her pain was nowhere near as bad as hers. It ended after merely a second, but it was enough pain to last a year. Tayuya got to her feet, and brought her flute to her lips, undeterred by the previous jutsu.

"You think that'll work?" Kin began, "Soni-"

"Bolero of Fire!" Kin shouted, interrupting Kin's jutsu.

Before she could continue her jutsu, fireballs rained around the battlefield in front of Tayuya. Kin dodged them as they came, but heard Tayuya shout something else.

"Song of Storms!" Tayuya yelled, switching the melody of her flute.

Blades of slicing wind launched from her location, mixing with the fireballs to increase their potency. Kin found it harder to dodge these, taking a few minor burns across her body, but the jutsu eventually ended, leaving her mostly unharmed.

"Nocturne of Shadow!" Tayuya shouted, surprising Kin.

The raven-haired girl prepared to dodge an attack as Tayuya's melody changed, but no attack came. She was suddenly plunged into darkness, finding her body unable to move.

Tayuya smirked as she saw Kin standing motionless, gaping a bit while staring forward.

"Nice combo, Tayuya," Oshime mentioned, looking at Kin, "What do we do now that she's paralyzed?"

"Subdue her and try to get information out of her when the genjutsu wears off." Tayuya replied.

"Oh really, and how do you plan to do that?" A voice behind them said.

Tayuya spun around, seeing Kin smirking maliciously.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that us clones were designed with genjutsu immunity?" Kin mocked, holding up three bells.

Tayuya went to bring her flute to her lips, but did not make it in time, as Kin threw the bells. They landed in a triangle with Tayuya at the center, vibrating slightly from the force of the impact. Tayuya went to jump out of the triangle, but the bells' effects prevented that from happening, as Tayuya's legs felt weak and she grew dizzy. She knew it was not a genjutsu, so she had no measure to counter it.

"Triple Sonic Ricochet" Kin said, smirking.

Tayuya's ears exploded in pain as each bell released its own massive sound attack, nearly deafening Oshime, who it was not even concentrating on. Despite the pain, Oshime looked at Tayuya with concern, unable to imagine just how painful this was. As the sound faded away, she was surprised to see Tayuya with a triumphant grin on her face.

"You think I wasn't expecting you to try that jutsu again at some point?" Tayuya said, standing shakily to her feet, "I concentrated chakra into my ears to prevent the sound from entering. I can't hear anything, but I also can't be hurt by attacks that require me to hear them."

Kin scowled, but began to smile.

"Well, then I guess you also can't hear what jutsu I'm going to use." She stated.

"You forget that I'm also from the Sound Village," Tayuya replied, causing Kin to scowl again, "Lip reading is academy level, if you've forgotten."

"If you think that a minor trick is going to defeat me, you're mistaken!" Kin shouted, visibly angry.

Tayuya assessed the situation, recognizing that the room was too small to contain her Doki demons, so that was out of the question. Despite her solution to the sound jutsu, she was still at a slight disadvantage, as the vibrating bells still affected her.

"There are more ways to beat you then just blowing out your eardrums." Kin stated, placing her hands together, "Vibrating Air!"

The bells around Tayuya began to shake violently, seemingly disturbing the air. Tayuya looked for the effects, and suddenly felt the air around her shake as violently as the bells themselves. She was lifted off the ground as the air vibrated around her, seeming to shake her very bones. She tried to bring her flute to her mouth, but her body was hard to move.

"Air Collapse!" Kin shouted.

The air around her stopped shaking, and instead, shot her into the ground. Tayuya coughed up a bit of blood as she slammed into the ground, shakily standing back up.

"Tayuya, let me fight with you!" Oshime shouted, seeing her condition.

"No, I'm fine." Tayuya responded, cracking her knuckles, "This is my battle, and mine alone."

Oshime sighed, knowing that there was no way to convince her otherwise. She watched the battle continue, worried about the health of her partner, but also knowing that she was very strong.

"Is that all you've got?" Tayuya mocked, looking at Kin.

"Of course not." Kin stated.

"Good," Tayuya replied, jumping out of the triangle, "I was afraid that this wasn't going to be much of a challenge."

Kin threw two more bells, which were already vibrating as they traveled through the air, creating vibrations around them.

"Song of Storms!" Tayuya shouted, playing the song in her flute again.

Just as before, blades of slicing wind shot forward, which Kin attempted to dodge. To her surprise, some of the blades curved towards her body, as they traveled. Due to surprise, she was unable to fully dodge them, taking a few slashes on her arms and legs. As blood poured from her wounds, she stood up and glared at Tayuya. She was about to ask how the sickles of air did that, but then realized. The vibration in the air caused by the path of her bells was able to deflect the wind blades that got close, sending them towards Kin to the side. The bells eventually landed against the wall, sending their vibrations through the air, and through Tayuya's body. Despite her chakra-induced deafness, the vibrations were still able to make it through her body, causing her to fall to her knees again as dizziness overtook her body. Kin rushed over before she could recuperate, and snatched the flute from her hands, sticking it in the pouch on her behind.

"And that's game." Kin stated, slugging Tayuya across the face.

"Tayuya!" Oshime shouted, resisting every urge to rush in and interfere, although she would if her life was truly in danger.

Tayuya could not hear her, nor was she facing Oshime, so she could not read her lips. She knew she was missing her flute, but knew that, despite Kin's outburst, the battle was far from over.

-~-

Sakura, Ino and Anko stared at the odd man in front of them, already having forgotten his lengthy name.

"That's Yawatanoyabushirazu Atamagaokashii, for those of you whom have forgotten. Your simple minds may not be complex enough to remember the intricacies of my verbal identity, but your minds are still complex labyrinths." He began, much to their dismay, "The diversity of the human mind renders my own into a state of euphoria. The human brain is like a maze, twists, turns throughout. An enigma of modern days, understood by none despite the modern advances of today's sciences. You see, I take much delectation in my observances of human mentality. The brain, epicenter of human consciousness and thought, is an enigma like no other. The greatest of all mazes, whose end has never been reached, if it even exists at all. I strive to find the end of that maze, so I may call myself Master of all mazes, Lord of all labyrinths, Potentate of all puzzles, Mogul of all morasses, Sultan of all skeins, Ruler of all riddles-"

"Would you shut up!" Sakura shouted, running at him to punch him square in the jaw.

Yawatanoyabushirazu jumped backwards, avoiding Sakura's punch by just a split second.

"My my, such a young lady, yet so violent. Your mind seems almost as linear as that of that lumbering brute of a Raikage." He stated, "His mind was the most linear of any I have ever encountered, unfortunately, which is why I abdicated my position in the Hidden Cloud Village and joined the Sound Village."

"Enough talk!" Anko shouted, as four snakes leapt from her sleeves, towards Yawatanoyabushirazu.

The purple-eyed individual leapt to the side of the snakes, stomping on each individually, causing them to dissolve.

"You are almost as impatient as that child with the amaranth hair, Madame Serpent. You thuggish brutes have not even let me activate the Meirogan, my bloodline limit." He stated, "You do not see me attacking you out of nowhere, now do you? No, I would say not. Now, let us begin this antiquated method of combat."

As he finished speaking, the sclera of his eye changed from white to purple, making his entire eyeball a deep purple. Orange lines spread across his eyeball, creating the shape of a maze on each eye. As he looked between them, they noticed that the pupil of his eyes had shrunk quite a bit, and only seemed to move through the maze made up by the orange lines, unable to pass through the lines, which baffled them. It was as if the lines moved so that they would remain on the front as the eyeball moved so it would appear that the pupil was able to move independently. Not caring about his alteration, Sakura rushed at him, once again trying to punch him. In a blinding burst of speed, he ran directly backwards, much faster than any were expecting. Right as he stopped, he ran forward at his amazing speed, and landed his fist on Sakura's jaw. She was knocked backwards from the force, bleeding from her lip.

"Dammit, he's fast!" Sakura said, standing up.

"All the more reason to stop him!" Ino stated, placing her hands together, "Mind Paralysis Jutsu!"

She looked directly at him, expecting to render him motionless. However, he quickly ran forward as she stared, and while he was indeed paralyzed while rushing forward, his great momentum caused his rigid body to crash right into Ino before she could dodge. This broke her concentration, as well as the jutsu, causing him to regain his movement. Ino stood back up, undeterred by her previous failure.

"Flower Petal Carnage!" She shouted.

"Noxious Serpent Fangs!" Anko shouted along with Ino.

Ino shot small blades of purple chakra, which looked like flower petals, while snake fangs dripping with venom grew from each of Anko's fingers and launched towards Yawatanoyabushirazu. He dodged each projectile using his speed as they came, not hit by a single one. After about a minute or two of pointless attacks, they each stopped, knowing that he was not going to slow down anytime soon.

"Dammit, not a single one hit." Ino stated, annoyed.

"Maybe not, but I've figured out the weakness to his speed." Anko replied, eliciting a look of interest from their opponent.

"Weakness?" Sakura questioned.

"He can only move in straight lines, and make turns of a ninety-degree angle," She stated, "It's much like he's moving through an invisible maze."

"Perhaps you are not as dim-witted as I originally speculated. However, that shall do nothing to stop me from utterly beating you in combat." He replied, placing his hands together, "Sentakukoumokuyawatashirazu!"

Each of the three girls was surrounded by a three-pronged room, with a small platform at each end. Each girl was standing in the center of their trap, looking around the room they were trapped in.

"Be careful, for only one is the correct platform. Any of the other two would yield an 'electrifying' result." He stated, relatively short compared to his other statements.

"Dammit! Not good!" Anko stated, looking at each platform. She looked around for any hint as to which was the real one, but could see nothing.

With a flick of her wrist, Anko released three snakes, which each slithered onto a platform. She watched as two of them were electrified and dissolved, while one remained alive. Anko stepped onto that platform, and watched as the structure disappeared, leaving her standing back where she was before. She saw the other two structures, which held Ino and Sakura, hoping they'd figure their way out.

"Crap, which one do I choose...?" Ino stated, looking at each platform.

She closed her eyes, and spun around a bit. When she opened, she was facing one of the platforms, which she hesitantly stood on. Within a second, she was engulfed in pain, as electricity surged through her body. She stumbled backwards from the pain, accidentally falling on one of the other platforms. She was surprised as the room she was in fell apart, revealing the same room that they had started in, Anko looking over to her.

"You ok, kid?" Anko asked, "I thought I heard you scream."

"I chose wrong the first time, but I'm fine." She stated, shakily getting to her feet, "Where's Sakura?"

"Still in her room." Anko responded, "I wonder what's taking so long."

Sakura took a deep breath, and then punch the wall of her room with all the force she could muster. She was surprised to see that the wall did not even crack, let alone burst open.

"Well, I guess I can't be surprised that it wasn't that easy." Sakura muttered, "I'll have to find some other method."

Sakura thought for a second, and then came up with a plan. She removed three kunai from her pouch, and tied threads onto each on. She tossed each kunai on to one of the platforms, and waited for results. As the electricity poured into two of the kunai, they heated up to the point that two of the threads eventually began to burn. Seeing the two that burned, Sakura stepped on the platform of the non-charred thread and watched the room fall apart. She saw Anko and Ino sitting there, waiting for her, Ino looking like she had experienced pain, most likely due to choosing the wrong exit.

"Hmm, interesting...Only a solitary one of your number took an electrocution, quite impressive. I did not perceive such an outcome, but that is one of the beauties of life." Yawatanoyabushirazu rambled, "The unknown, a dark abyss of possibilities, good, bad, neutral, and all other results dwell as bats in the dark, rushing out in a flock of wings upon being disturbed. One cannot avoid the darkness of the unknown, much as one cannot avoid the dark clutches of the Reaper's scythe, as you shall become imminently aware of."

Rushing in from out of nowhere, he slugged Anko in the jaw before she could react, knocking her backwards. She stood up, and looked over at him.

"Your trick is becoming old." She stated, "Try to avoid this; Expanding Serpent Wave!"

Anko held out her sleeve, as four snakes shot from within. Each snake began to grow as it extended from her sleeve, until they were about ten feet tall by the time they were approaching their opponent. Despite his speed, there was really no way for Yawatanoyabushirazu to avoid the snakes, which barreled down on him.

"Heiuchiage!" He shouted.

As he spoke, a large wall of earth grew from the ground and shot forward, crashing into the snakes. It crumbled on contact, but caused one of the snakes to dissolve due to the impact. He released two more walls, which managed to destroy two of the other snakes, but was unable to defeat the last one. He rushed to the side, but was knocked over by the side of the snake's mouth, which dissolved from the impact. He rolled across the ground, a bit dazed from the attack. He brushed himself off, and stood to his feet.

"Not bad for such simpletons, but nowhere near good enough." He briefly stated, "Now you shall witness the second stage of my Meirogan, the Meirowanagan."

As he spoke, the orange lines on his eyes spread until they were covering his entire body, creating a maze that covered his entire body. Anko's sharp eyes also noticed three blue dots and one green one inside the "walls" of his maze body.

"I've no idea what you're planning, but I'll stop you before you get to do it!" Sakura shouted, running towards him.

Yawatanoyabushirazu used his high speed to run backwards away from Sakura, until he had gotten a significant distance away from her. Sakura continued the pursuit, but stopped when she ground shook and a wall shot from below, right in front of her. She turned to go around it, but saw walls growing from every direction, until they had hit the ceiling. Sakura looked around, and noticed that she was in a corridor and ran around the corner, seeing another corridor with a few pathways. Ino and Anko had managed to stay together, but Sakura was by herself due to her pursuit of the enemy.

"Welcome!" Yawatanoyabushirazu's voice shouted, echoing through each corridor, "In this labyrinth of mine, you shall meet your death!"


	7. Shattered

**Chapter 7 – Shattered**

Tayuya shakily stood to her feet after being punched, glaring at the smirking Kin. Her flute was now in the possession of the enemy, and she was still deaf, even though that was her own doing.

"Well, well, the little blowhard is without her flute," Kin mocked, ego enlarging by the second, "Whatever will she do now?"

Tayuya glared, but said nothing in return. Tayuya rushed towards Kin, aiming to slug her in the face in return. Kin ducked, and punched Tayuya in the gut with both hands, knocking her backwards. Tayuya stayed on her feet, and pulled three kunai from her pack, throwing each at the same time. Kin watched the three knives whiz through the air, preparing to dodge, and noticing that the middle one had a bomb tag on it, leaping backwards just before it exploded while in the air. Kin avoided damage from the blast, but then saw three more kunai launch through the smokescreen created by the explosion, unable to dodge at that distance. Two of the kunai lodged in her left arm, while the other in her right. Kin ripped each knife out of her flesh, blood trickling from her three wounds, ignoring the pain of the injuries. As the three kunai dropped to the ground, her eyes widened as she noticed one had a bomb tag on it, which activated just as she saw it. She jumped up, knowing she could not avoid the explosion completely, but hoping she would minimize the damage. As the tag exploded, Kin was launched upwards, already in the air, feeling a few burns from the strength of the explosion. She smashed into the ceiling, falling to the floor right afterwards. She pulled herself to her feet, covered in bruises and burn marks, bleeding from a few places.

"Not bad, but you won't get me with a trick like that again..." Kin stated, brushing some dirt off of her.

Tayuya knew she was right, as there was no way that she would be able to get another round of kunai trickery to fool her adversary. Not to mention, she was using up her ninja weapons quickly, and another series like that would leave her at nearly nothing.

"I don't need to." Tayuya replied, placing her hands together, "Doki form!"

Kin prepared herself, unsure what techniques Tayuya could use without her flute available to her. Instead of any flashy ninjutsu or other similar moves, Tayuya rushed Kin, arm held back as if to try and punch her again. Kin was a bit confused, but prepared to dodge the punch when it came to her. Instead of what she was expecting, Tayuya did indeed swing her arm forward to punch, but a few feet too early to hit her. Kin was surprised as she watched the redhead's fist swing towards thin air. Her eyes widened as Tayuya's arm suddenly morphed into a thick, brown, large arm, with two spires attached to the top of the fist. Due to the change, the fist was no longer aimed at nowhere, Kin barely dodging it, but getting scratched across the face by the spires. She leapt back, and stared at the monstrous arm that Tayuya now sported.

"You changed your arm to that of one of you Doki ogres!" Kin stated, surprised.

Tayuya flexed the arm, which was over twice as tall as her entire body, and smirked.

"Yeah, surprised?" Tayuya smugly asked, "This thing packs a wallop, although it's just a bit unwieldy."

"When did you learn that!?" Oshime asked from the sidelines, never having seen anything close to that technique from Tayuya before.

"You did missions, I practiced." Tayuya replied. "I got a lot of practice..."

"Right..." Oshime replied meekly, sensing the anger in Tayuya's voice.

"Interesting jutsu," Kin replied, "However, that won't change your fate."

Kin removed two bells and some wire from her pouch, and tied each bell to the palm of her hand with wire. As she finished, she saw Tayuya rushing again, holding her monstrous arm up due to its size. Right as she swung, Kin raised both hands, palms outward, as the bells began to shake.

"Sonic Aegis!" Kin shouted, before the punch reached her.

The vibrating bells released a wave of air, which knocked Tayuya and her punch backwards, protecting Kin from getting clocked and skewered at the same time. She leapt to the side, and then rushed at Tayuya. She used her open palms to hit Tayuya, who blocked with her Doki arm. Upon contact, the bells on Kin's palm shook once more, creating another wave of air that knocked Tayuya backwards. Tayuya got to feet, and glared at Kin.

"Hah, try and block my attacks now." Kin remarked.

"I don't need to..." Tayuya replied.

Tayuya opened her mouth, and a white ethereal being came out, flying towards Kin. It was one of the ghosts that usually lie in her Doki, who eat the chakra of anything they contact. The ghost flew toward Kin, who jumped to the side, but not before the ghost passed through her arm and swallowed a chunk of her chakra. Tayuya continued having the ghost twist and turn to follow Kin, who kept leaping back and forth to try to avoid it. While Kin was distracted, Tayuya rushed in and swung her Doki arm to try and take out Kin while she was distracted. Kin was able to activate her Sonic Aegis once again, preventing Tayuya from hitting her. However, the effort allowed the ghost to pass through her once again, taking more of her chakra. Kin fell to the ground, tingling feeling from where the ghost had passed through. Kin got to her feet, eye on the ghost to see where it would come from again. Suddenly, the ghost came from below the ground as if it was not there, and passed through Kin's leg before she could dodge.

"Gah! Dammit!" Kin exclaimed at the loss of more chakra.

She leapt again to avoid the ghost's next attack, and held an open palm up to the ghost. She shook the bell on that palm, and activated her Sonic Ricochet jutsu, hoping that the booming soundwaves would do something to the ghost. Unfortunately for her, the ghost was not deterred at all, just missing Kin as she dodged the swooping being. Tayuya used this opportunity to run up to Kin and smash her with her Doki arm. Kin slid to the side, avoiding the spires, but smashed by the fist of the Doki arm. Kin flew into the wall of the room from the tremendous punch, bleeding from a few places. Kin shakily stood there, breathing a bit heavily, and staring at Tayuya, bloodlust in her eyes.

"Give up," Tayuya replied, "You won't beat me, you're just a shadow of your true form."

"Maybe, but that's enough to kick your ass." Kin replied, despite her current condition.

"You're a disgrace to the person you share your genetics with." Tayuya replied, face looking angered.

"Heh, we'll see about that..." Kin replied, digging into her pouch.

From inside, she pulled out a dual-pronged knife, which had somewhat of a familiar shape, although Tayuya could not currently place it. Kin ran at Tayuya, avoiding the ghost that tried to swoop in on her, and slashed at Tayuya with the knife. Tayuya threw her Doki arm up in defense, which took the blow of the knife with almost no damage due to the durability of its skin. However, when the knife was stopped, it vibrated rapidly, giving off a loud sound, which Tayuya was still deaf to, luckily for her. The rapid vibrations dug the knife through the flesh of the Doki, embedding the weapon deeper and deeper into the arm of the Doki. Tayuya ripped the arm away from the attack, annoyed at the weapon's potency. At that moment, she realized that the weapon was supposed to resemble a tuning fork, just made into a knife. She could see the blood coming out of the wound on the Doki arm, only feeling half the pain she would if it was on her real arm.

"Hehe, like my Onsa?" Kin stated, referring to her weapon, "With every strike, it vibrates rapidly, and slices and stabs tens of times per second."

"Oh no, a sharpened tuning fork!" Tayuya replied sarcastically, "I'm so scared!"

"Heh, well, you will be soon." Kin replied, running at her.

Tayuya decided that she'd be better off avoiding the attack this time, rather than trying to block it. She jumped as Kin slashed, hearing the sound of fabric slicing. She looked down and saw that her pants had been slashed by the knife, falling down her legs from lack of support. Tayuya stepped out of the ruined clothes as she landed, not wanting to trip over them. She did not care that her diaper was exposed, even though it was quite wet, she merely cared about defeating the clone of her onetime comrade. Kin, however, found it quite humorous, laughing at first sight of it.

"Well, looks like one tough girl has a bit of a secret, huh?" Kin mocked, "Does Tayuya need a break so her Mommy can change her diapee?"

"Hey, I am not her Mommy!" Oshime shouted from the sidelines, causing Tayuya to place her face in her hand, because Kin had not even implied Oshime's involvement.

"Hah, I had forgotten about you!" Kin replied, laughing, "I guess you do fit!"

"...Hehe, oops, sorry..." Oshime muttered, embarrassed.

Tayuya rushed at Kin, hooping to get an attack in while she was busy having a laugh over her attire. Kin leapt to the side, but did take a slash from the arm spires to her leg, blood trickling down. Kin reacted by rushing up to Tayuya and slashing with her Onsa. Instead of blocking with her Doki arm, she placed her regular arm in the way, which confused Kin until that arm quickly morphed into the arm of another Doki, complete with enormous metal club. Instead of hitting the arm, the Onsa hit the metal club, which took no damage whatsoever, its size diluting any vibrations to near non-existence. Tayuya swung the club towards Kin, who jumped just high enough to land on it. Tayuya swung the club around, Kin staying attached to it via chakra in her legs. Tayuya spun in circles as she swung the club around, finally releasing it. It flew across the large room, Kin still attached. Kin leapt off of the club, using its mid-air spinning to increase her launch speed. She launched at the weaponless Tayuya, clashing her Onsa with the new Doki arm. Just as before, the vibrations of the weapon had it dig into the flesh of the Doki, its blood oozing down its arm. As this happened, the large club crashed into the opposite wall, sounds of broken glass mixing in with the general debris and rubble crashing down. Tayuya swung the other Doki arm, which Kin could only half dodge, taking one of the arm spires through her shoulder. Tayuya swung the fist down, releasing Kin from it, and smashing her in the ground. Before Kin even had a chance to think, Tayuya lifted her arm up, and punch down to where Kin was sprawled. The latter closed her eyes, admitting defeat, expecting to feel the hard spikes end her brief life. She heard the sound of the spires colliding with their target, but felt no pain or anything. Kin opened her eyes, and saw the fist of the Doki right in front of her, the spires lodged in the ground on either side of her neck, preventing her from getting up, but doing no harm.

"You showed mercy to an enemy!" Kin shouted, glaring at Tayuya, "You really have abandoned the Sound Village..."

Tayuya glared at her words, but knew she was right. The village taught that you never showed mercy to an enemy, no matter the situation, yet she, one of the cruelest in the village, purposefully pinned her, instead of killing her. Kin had been the closest thing to a friend she had ever known. None of the members of her specialized squad could be anything but malicious co-workers, nor did she treat them any differently. While her and Kin had never hung out, or went out to lunch or anything friends typically they do, they had shared a laugh on occasion, usually at the expense of one of their teammates.

"Tayuya, don't make the now the time you grow soft!" Oshime shouted from across the room, "She's not the person you knew, just a clone!"

Tayuya looked down at the Kin clone, who was futilely trying to pull the spires out of the ground with her hands. A look of determination washed over Tayuya's face, as she stomped Kin's stomach with her foot, keeping her pinned while she lifted the Doki arm from the ground, and punched it towards Kin's chest, spires stabbing into her chest. The clone screamed in agony as the spires ripped into her body, knowing that the attack was fatal. Tayuya lifted the spires out of the Kin's body, blood dripping from them as more pooled under her body. The Kin clone turned to look at Tayuya, her eyes slowly closing as her body lost life. Suddenly, Tayuya noticed that her face was distorting, almost as if she was melting. She watched in sheer amazement as the clone melted and changed color, leaving nothing but a greenish pile of goo mixed with some blood, laying with a pile of the clothes it was wearing.

"She...melted." Oshime muttered, walking up to Tayuya.

"It must be a defense mechanism," Tayuya replied, as her arms morphed back to normal, "So that if a clone is defeated in battle, the enemy can't probe its body for secrets."

"Ah..." Oshime responded, "How are you doing? Any injuries?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Tayuya answered, stretching, "I just need a new pair of pants...and a change."

"Heh, well, let's take of that before we go any further." Oshime replied, smiling.

Before Tayuya could respond, a beeping sound was heard by both of them coming from across the room. They ran over to see what it was, and saw another test-tube, this one shattered at part of the top, no doubt the broken glass heard when the club had crashed into the wall. The liquid was too thick to see what was inside, but the beeping surely meant that something was up, most likely from the shattered top.

"SUBJECT PRIME ACTIVATED" The computerized voice spoke, before the tube began to open.

The liquid inside spilled out, unlike with the other tube, where the liquid retracted before the tube opened. As the chemical spilled out, they could see another human figure inside, but obscured beyond recognition by the thick, colored glass of the tube, However, it appeared that this subject was naked, as there was no distinguishable color change throughout the figure's form besides the obvious hair part. The tube opened up, the figure falling to the chemical-laden floor, completely unconscious and as naked as the day as it was born, which, considering the situation, was probably this moment.

"No..." Tayuya muttered, looking at the figure.

It was another Kin.

-~-

Sakura looked up at the walls that had surrounded the battlefield, separating her from Anko and Ino. She saw an opening at the end of this pseudo-corridor, and towards it, turning the corner to see another corridor with a few other passageways.

"It's a giant maze..." Sakura muttered, "No wonder this room was so enormous, it's so he could fit his maze into it."

Sakura channeled chakra to her fist, and swung at the wall in front of her. Her fist hit with full strength, but the wall did not so much as chip.

"Attempting to demolish my labyrinth like a savage brute will prove futile. The only way for you to defeat the maze, is to traverse the entirety of it and reach its end." Yawatanoyabushirazu stated, his voice travelling through all corridors, "Of course, you three feminine failures shall never get through my masterful labyrinth, as none of you possess any of the brainpower required to do so."

Sakura got annoyed as he rambled on, running for an opening. She entered the passageway, running down that corridor and entering another open passage, looking for any sign that she was going the right direction. She received none, of course, but continued forward, thinking it the only option. Anko and Ino examined the walls that had risen, planning their next move.

"Looks like we'll have to go through the maze in order to fight him," Anko replied, "But we can't waste time just taking wild guesses about which way to go."

"What about your snakes, Sensei?" Ino asked, "You could release a large amount that would travel down as many lanes possible until one finds the correct one."

"The snakes can only travel a certain distance from me before they dissolve on their own," Anko replied, "With how large this room is, it stands to reason that he's far away from our location, too far from my snakes."

"Ah..." Ino replied, defeated, "So what do we do?"

"Hmm..." Anko replied, thinking up some ideas, "I think I have an idea."

Ino raised her eyebrow, curious as to what Anko intended to do. The purple-haired instructor bit her thumb, and then placed her hands together.

"Summoning Jutsu!" She shouted, before being engulfed in smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Ino saw an orange snake with black zigzag markings across its body. It was at least twenty feet long, its head large enough for Anko and Ino to fit comfortably on, the former of which already doing so.

"Anko? It hassss been awhile...." The snake hissed, "Why have you ssssummoned me here?"

"I need your help, Hebermes" Anko replied from her position on its head, "You're the fastest of all the snake summons, and I need you to help us get through this maze."

"I know I'm sssspeedy, but I'm not the ssssharpest fang in the bunch." The snake replied, "I'm not ssssure what usssse I could be."

"I don't need you to be smart, just fast." Anko responded, "We just need you to cover a large amount of ground in a short amount of time."

"Now that issss ssssomething I can do." Hebermes replied, "Get on, both of you."

Anko looked down to Ino, telling her to hop onto the snake with her countenance. Ino hesitated, but hopped onto the snake's head, sitting next to Anko.

"You might want to hold on to something, unless you're good at channeling chakra." Anko stated.

"Huh?" Ino questioned, "What do you me-"

Ino was cutoff, as the snake began traveling accelerating to insane speed, the air resistance toppling Ino backwards down the snake's body. Ino tried to grab the snake's scales, but they were interconnected too smoothly to grip onto. Instead she channeled chakra to the next part of the body that was going to contact the snake's skin, which she found out in practice was her rear. She was no longer tumbling down to the ground, stuck by her rear to the snake's body. Channeling chakra to her hands, she placed her palm on the snake, using that to pull herself onto all fours. Keeping chakra at her knees and palms, she managed to crawl up the snake's body, and back up to its head, channeling chakra to her entire lower half so as to stay on the snake's head.

"Told you so." Anko merely stated, not turning her head, nor did she when Ino first tumbled.

The blond stayed quiet, concentrating more on her chakra distribution than a comeback to her sadistic mission leader. Due to the fact that it slithered instead of ran, meant that the trip was relatively smooth, despite the very high speed. However, since they were traveling through a maze, the snake had to turn corners quickly, its speed making that happen much quicker. The turns involved a lot of jolting, which required a larger chakra output to remain on the snake.

"Hmm, interesting, most interesting..." Yawatanoyabushirazu mumbled, looking at his shirtless body, covered in orange lines representing the maze "A new opponent has entered my labyrinth. It must be a summoning jutsu, and this unknown summon is quite rapid, as well. No matter, they shan't find the end of my maze."

He looked at his exposed kneecap, a green dot sitting motionlessly inside the orange lines. He then looked to his arm, seeing three red dots move quickly through the maze on his body, but advancing to the chest, rather than down to his leg. He searched for the other red dot on his body, representing Sakura. He eventually found it on his stomach, moving downward slowly, approaching closer to his waist.

"Tsk, such savagery as to do something so low-brow and lewd with no knowledge or intention of such actions." He muttered, watching the dot go down past the hem of his pants, "She poses no threat at all. The trio, however, have a 2.723% chance of locating me. Therefore, I must do all I can from this position to drop that back down to zero."

He lifted one of his fingers, the tip turning red, before pressing it to his chest, right in front of where the three quick dots were heading. The reddish finger left a red square, just as wide as the space between the walls, on his body. He then placed more squares along his body, most concentrated around the green dot on his knee, of varying colors.

"That should impede their progress for good." Yawatanoyabushirazu muttered.

Sakura had been running through the labyrinth for awhile now, unsure of where she was or where she was heading. She had been annoyed to find out that the walls would not even scratch, leaving her attempts the use kunai scrapes to show where she had been was pointless. She continued toward the direction she had hoped was correct, before the floor suddenly dropped from under her. She quickly grabbed the ledge, pulling herself up. She looked down the pit, seeing spikes lining the floor below. She backpedaled from it, afraid of it merely for what it was. As she stepped back, she heard a whizzing sound as darts shot out from either side of the wall, aimed at her. She managed to dodge them all, now more afraid of what more steps would bring.

"Damn, now I have to worry about traps, as well..." Sakura muttered, looking around.

Hebermes continued blistering ahead, twisting and turning through the corridors of the maze, not knowing if they were travelling in the right direction. As they traveled down as particularly long passage, they saw something surprising; the hall up ahead was lit in flames from a flame dispenser in the floor and walls. The only way to get through would be to pass through the fire, and figure out a way to do so safely.

"Hebermes, quickly!" Anko shouted, placing her hand on his head.

"Yessss, undersssstood." He replied, "Ssssaliva Ssssplatter Jutssssu!"

A stream of slimy saliva shot from the snake's mouth, covering all the flamethrowers in the thick, goopy solution, blocking their output, at least temporarily. Hebermes continued forward, as the flames kicked back in a few moments after his whole body had passed through the saliva barrier.

"That wassss closssse..." Hebermes stated, seeing the fire.

The three continued for awhile, using Hebermes abilities to pass through the various traps inside the maze, still unsure if they were travelling in the right direction. Unbeknownst to them, the trio of red dots representing them was moving down their opponent's left thigh, getting relatively closer to the green dot on his left knee. If he had bothered to look, he'd notice that Sakura was on the right side of his lower back, moving somewhat closer, but much slower than the other group.

"Hmm, it seems that I have underestimated their abilities," Yawatanoyabushirazu stated, "Well, this calls for a final, decisive blow to their egos and bodies. It shall take a large chunk of my remaining chakra, but it should eliminate the threat."

He held up both hands, each fingertip turning black, before pressing them against his skin in various strategic locations. He winced as pained coursed through his body, mainly at the location of contact, his skin tearing around the locations that he had touched. Soon, he removed his hands from his skin, large black circles located where he touched. Breathing heavily, he looked at the trio of dots racing through the maze, and pressed a finger to one of the black circles, filling it in as he did.

Hebermes continued slithering ahead, unsure of the direction, but maintaining focused on the paths taken. Before he had a chance to react, the floor crumbled below them, exposing blackness below them. The pit was huge, at least five corridors wide in radius, longer than Hebermes himself was. The pit had opened with them at the center, dropping them into the pitch blackness below. Hebermes quickly grabbed them with his tail, wrapping it around them. He spun quickly as he fell, before releasing, and throwing the two kunoichi high enough to land on the floor above. Ino looked down into the darkness, seeing nothing.

"He sacrificed himself, to save us..." Ino muttered.

"Don't worry kid, he can just reverse summon himself before he hits the ground." Anko replied, "He just couldn't do so with us on him. He's fine."

"Oh..." Ino replied, slightly embarrassed, "But we're without a ride now."

"Yeah, but I think we're getting closer, since that trap was such a big one." Anko replied, looking ahead.

"I just hope that Sakura is okay," Ino stated following Anko through the maze, "She might not have done as well being by herself."

"We'll just have to trust her." Anko replied, right before the floor gave in again, "Leviathan Lasso!"

Anko grabbed onto Ino as they began to fall again, as a snake slid out from her sleeve, and wrapped around her arm. The snake opened its mouth, releasing another snake which released another snake from its mouth. This process continued until a snake bit into the ledge, its bite strength incredible to hold the other snakes and the two kunoichi. As it latched on, the snake wrapped around Ino, eating the one protruding from its mouth, and then continued to eat the next one and so forth until that snake had reached the edge of the pit, allowing the two to climb up. The snake dissolved directly afterwards, leaving the duo at the edge. Ino was still shaking, scared of that near death experience, but managed to get her feet, Anko right next to her.

"We're definitely close..." Anko stated, eyes locked ahead of her.

Sakura was having her own series of troubles, dealing with a few simple traps while she continued forward, burn marks on her clothes, but no skin burns due to her healing prowess. She stepped forward, and suddenly felt the floor below her collapse. She managed to place her feet on a falling rock, using her chakra control to increase her leg strength, which she used to jump back to the surface. She looked down in the pit, seeing darkness all around, noticing for the first time how massive the pit was. She backed away carefully, continuing ahead.

"I can tell I'm getting closer..." She muttered, avoiding another dart trap.

Soon, Anko and Ino turned a corner, seeing their adversary standing in front of them.

"Hmm, you passed all of my traps. I must say that I am impressed." He stated, "However, this is where your lives will be ended."

Anko released seven snakes from her sleeve, which launched towards Yawatanoyabushirazu, who dodged effortlessly, despite being out of breath from the effort of the various pits. Ino threw two kunai, which were followed by a few more snakes. He continued to dodge the techniques a few more times, smirk growing as he did.

"Hah, you really think you can hit me?" He asked, smugly, before feeling a massive blow to his back.

As he shot through the air, he saw Sakura with her fist bared, smirking.

"Yeah, I do." She stated, before he crashed into one of his walls. His exhaustion from chakra use combined with this attack, making it a fatal blow. As he hit the wall, he oozed down it like a gel, leaving nothing but a green ooze floating with his articles of clothing.

"What the hell?" Ino stated, looking at the goo.

"I've no idea..." Anko replied, curious, "We'll have to look into this more."

As she spoke, the walls crumbled, revealing the enormous room as it once was, except for the three giant pits along the floor and the various burn marks spread throughout. Sakura looked for the door to continue ahead, seeing on the other side of the room. She sighed in annoyance, but the three kunoichi made their way over to the other side, to the door.

"I'd suggest we rest for a few minutes before continuing." Anko replied, "I could do with a soldier pill, and I can tell that Sakura needs a change."

Sakura blushed, seeing the slash along the front of her outfit, showing enough of her diaper to tell its current condition, but nodded in agreement. Anko sat down on the ground, removing a soldier pill from her pack and munching on it. Sakura looked around for a place to change (or be changed, as she was sure it would become) in private, but the massive, now entirely open, room was of no use. Ino, taking initiative, pushed Sakura's shoulders to signal that she should lay down here, not wanting to annoy Anko by wasting time. Sakura sighed, but followed Ino's instruction. She felt her ripped leggings slide down her legs, having lost the front flap of her skirt back in the maze somewhere. Ino ripped the tabs off, and removed the diaper. She tossed it behind her, not caring about littering in their current location. She wiped Sakura down like normal, her face relatively calm about seeing her best friend and rival's privates on display, although this was one of many changes she had performed for the girl. Anko sat in front of them, looking at Sakura as she was changed, but looking completely unfazed. The same could not be said about the pink-haired girl, however, who was a bit nervous and disturbed about her senior watching her. Ino quickly sprinkled powder on Sakura, rubbing it in more briskly than usual, seeing Anko's look of impatience. Ino slid a new diaper under Sakura's rear, taping it up snugly, and sliding the damaged leggings back up Sakura's leg. She was a bit annoyed at having to wear pants that exposed her underwear "choice", but reluctantly kept her silence.

"You two finally ready to go?" Anko asked, getting to her feet.

"Yes, Anko-sensei." They both replied, standing up.

"Good," Anko responded, "Just be prepared for anything."

Both girls nodded, and followed Anko through the door she had just opened, neither sure that they could truly handle what might be up ahead.


	8. Transition

**Chapter 8 – Transition**

Tayuya looked down at the naked form of Kin, preparing to re-activate her chakra-induced deafness, in case of another attack. However, Kin stayed unmoving, eyes closed. Tayuya slowly knelt down, and placed her hand on the figure's forehead. It was warm, but that may have been due to the chemical she was held in, as a quick check revealed that to be about the same temperature. Tayuya stood back up, and turned away.

"Stab her through the heart" Tayuya stated gloomily, walking over to the remains of the other Kin clone.

"...Right." Oshime stated quietly, unsheathing her sword.

Tayuya reached into the pack attached to the rear of the now goo-filled pants, and removed her flute. She placed it gently into the holster on her own waist, and stood up, keeping her back away from what was about to happen.

"Wait!" Oshime shouted, causing Tayuya to turn around, "She's breathing!"

Tayuya rushed back over to Oshime and Kin, looking down at the girl, who was indeed breathing, despite not doing so a few moments ago. As Tayuya looked down, Kin's eyes began to open, sending both Tayuya and Oshime into a pre-emptive stance, ready to strike in case the clone attacked them. Instead, Kin sat up and looked at each of them, and the weapons they were holding, curling up with a scared look on her face. Oshime and Tayuya relaxed their stance as they saw tears begin to form in her eyes, slowly sliding down her face.

"Umm, are you ok?" Oshime asked, lowering her sword.

"I dun wanna get hurt..." Kin mumbled, still crying.

"Err, what do think is up?" Oshime whispered to Tayuya, "Is this an act, or what?"

"It's not an act, that's for sure." Tayuya replied, "We must have interrupted the cloning process before it was complete, so she isn't mentally up to the level she should be. Same reason she's nude, I'd assume."

"So, what do we do? She isn't exactly a threat, then." Oshime responded.

"I know, but...she's still an abomination of science." Tayuya answered, anger in her voice, "She isn't human, she's a mass of goop and stolen DNA."

"Tayuya..." Oshime said, seeing her friend's face, "I understand."

Oshime walked over to the blubbering Kin, sword raised in the air. Tayuya wanted to turn away, but found herself watching, albeit reluctantly. Oshime looked down at Kin, her sword beginning to shake as her hand did. She closed her eyes, hoping that this would make the deed easier, but she continued shaking, unable to bring her blade down.

"I can't do it," Oshime stated, "I'm sorry, Tayuya."

"I should have expected that..." Tayuya replied, annoyed at the feeling of relief she felt.

"Do we really have to?" Oshime asked, "Sure she's a clone, but she's completely harmless."

"...Fine." Tayuya replied, "But what are you going to do with her. Leaving her here just insures a long, drawn out death, instead of a quick one."

"Take her with us?" Oshime suggested.

"...Fine, but make sure she won't get in our way." Tayuya replied, not wanting to admit that she liked being around Kin again, especially a Kin that was not trying to kill her.

Oshime smiled, and bent down to touch Kin on the shoulder. "It's ok, we aren't going to hurt you."

Kin's tears stopped, and she looked up at Oshime, "You're not?'

"Nope, we won't." Oshime replied, giving her a smile, "Now, do you know what your name is?"

"Umm..." Kin closed her eyes, and scrunched her face up as if she was thinking deeply. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, "Kin! I'm Kin!"

"Very good." Oshime replied, "Ok, how about your age? Do you know how old you are?"

"Umm..." Kin retook that facial expression, taking a bit longer this time, "Seven...teen?"

Tayuya nodded to Oshime, who looked at her when Kin responded.

"Good job." Oshime replied, "What else do you remember?"

"Umm...nothin'..." Kin responded, saddened as if she had disappointed Oshime.

"Hmm, that's ok. You'll learn things soon enough." Oshime replied, patting Kin on the shoulder.

Kin smiled, but that quickly faded as a puddle of liquid spread out from under her location.

"Uh-oh..." Kin simply stated, not sure exactly what she did, but thinking that she was not supposed to do it.

Oshime first thought that it was goo, afraid that the premature activation left her unstable, but soon realized the less severe, all too familiar truth.

"Looks like she forgot potty-training, as well." Tayuya replied, smirking.

"I wouldn't be talking if I were you." Oshime replied, smirking as well, "You need a change as well."

"...Shut it." Tayuya replied, annoyed at her own lack of foresight.

"Hehe, well, Kin, let's get you cleaned up and then I can clean up Ms. Grumpy over there." Oshime stated, moving Kin a few feet to the side, away from the puddle.

Kin let Oshime control her, not sure what she was doing, but trusting her all the same. Oshime laid Kin against the ground, and placed her pack on the ground. Kin stayed silent, watching as Oshime removed a wipe from the pack. She watched as Oshime brought the cold wipe between her legs, and shivered as it made contact. After a few seconds, she felt something sprinkle onto that area, as Oshime powdered her. Kin giggled as the powder was rubbed in, kicking her legs a bit. Oshime removed a diaper from the pack and slid it under Kin's legs, taping it snugly around it.

"There you go, Kin" Oshime said, smiling, "Now to change Grumpy."

"Shut up..." Tayuya threatened, laying down.

Kin smiled, and sat up, thinking deep in her mind that she was not supposed to be wearing such a garment, but did not care. She sat on the ground, watching as Tayuya grumbled at Oshime's words.

"Oooh, I wanna help!" Kin shouted, shuffling over.

"Hehe, ok, you can help me." Oshime relied, smiling.

"Oh god, kill me now..." Tayuya muttered.

Oshime removed Tayuya's wet diaper, and tossed it away, not caring about finding a garbage can in the enemy's base. She removed another wipe from the bag, and handed it to Kin.

"Ok, now rub the wipe across her skin in this area." Oshime told Kin, pointing.

Kin wiped Tayuya as Oshime explained it, albeit a bit clumsily. After she had finished, Oshime pulled Kin's hand away, signifying that it was finished. Oshime then handed Kin the baby powder container, and instructed her in the pouring of it. Kin poured a bit too much, but Oshime said nothing about it, merely taking the bottle from her after Kin was done.

"I'll do this part, ok?" Oshime asked.

Kin nodded, and watched as Oshime began rubbing the powder in, wondering why Tayuya's grumpiness seemed to fade away as she did. After a few seconds, Oshime stopped and removed a diaper from the pack. She placed Kin's hand on it, and slid it under Tayuya's rear, showing her how to tape it up.

"Good job, thanks for helping." Oshime stated, as if speaking with a child, which she may as well have been doing anyway.

"Do I get to help with you now!?" She excitedly asked, big smile on her face.

"Heh, sorry, but I don't wear diapers like you two do." Oshime replied, "But you can help me change Tayuya all the time, ok?"

"Ok!" Kin shouted, much to the chagrin of Tayuya.

"Was I killed in the previous battle?" Tayuya muttered to herself, "Is this the hell I was sent to?"

Oshime ignored her complaining, and slid a new pair of pants up the redhead's legs. Tayuya stood back up, and looked over to Kin, who was still clad only in a diaper.

"What about clothes for her?" Tayuya asked, trying to veer the subject away from herself.

"Hmm, well, she's probably close to your pant size, but shirt size seems closer to mine." Oshime said, giving Kin a onceover.

"Seems right to me." Tayuya replied, "What about bra size?"

"Probably a little less than mine, but I don't have any spares." Oshime replied, "Not a big deal, though."

Oshime removed a purple shirt from her pack, as Tayuya grabbed a pair of black sweatpants from her own. Oshime helped Kin into the outfit, although the latter did make it a bit difficult. Nonetheless, Kin was fully clothed shortly after, looking over her clothes. The look on her face said that she liked them, which Oshime was glad for, but Tayuya did not really care.

"Can we just go already? We have a mission to complete." Tayuya said, a bit annoyed.

"Fine, fine, let's go." Oshime said, helping Kin to her feet.

The three walked over to the door to the next area, Kin waddling due to the diaper in addition to her inexperience. When they reached the door, Tayuya opened it, surprised it opened so easily. As they walked in, they saw a square room, quite a bit smaller than the previous one, but still pretty big, with what appeared to be an upper level, although it was too dark to see it clearly. Despite the size of the room, the floor consisted of a single, thin path, which led towards the other side, right over a dark pit. Both girls looked around for any semblance of an opponent, but could see no one. They hesitantly walked forward, single-file, Kin looking genuinely afraid of the room, but not saying anything. As they approached the center, they remained silent, but stopped again. They looked around, once again seeing nothing, until Oshime felt a tingling feeling in her head, mostly concentrated to the right side. A split second later, Tayuya felt the same thing, except more to the left side. Before they even had a chance to figure it out, the world went black. However, they regained their consciousness just a split second later, not even enough time for their bodies to fall over. They both felt a bit odd, but had no time to ponder, as they realized that this room was more dangerous than they thought, and hurried their forward motion, despite Kin's scared whines. Once across the path, they quickly entered the door, revealing a well-lit hallway. Tayuya still felt that something was off, and now that they were in a room with better lighting, felt that she should say something.

"Was I the only one that felt something weird back there?" Tayuya said, except her voice sounded different; familiar, but different.

Oshime noticed this, too, and turned to face Tayuya. Her eyes widened as she did, amazed by what she saw. Oshime's disbelief only grew as she looked herself over, realizing why she felt odd.

"What's wrong, Oshime?" Tayuya asked, turning towards her, "No answ-"

Tayuya's eyes also widened at what she saw, which happened to be herself. Oshime looked back to Tayuya, which happened to be herself at the moment. Oshime recognized why she was waddling a bit, the thickness between her legs due to Tayuya's diaper.

"What the...?" Oshime mumbled, looking herself over again, "We've switched bodies..."

"I...wow..." Tayuya sputtered, unsure how to react to this development.

Tayuya looked over her new body, unable to resist the urge to fondle the larger breasts she now possessed. Oshime glared at her, which seemed apt for the body she now possessed. Tayuya stretched her new legs, feeling the lack of a diaper for the first time in about three years. After a few seconds of twisting herself around to experience that feel from other ways, Tayuya went back to "her" breasts, moving them up and down with cupped hands. Oshime just shook her head, and examined her own new body.

"So this is what it's like to wear a diaper..." Oshime mumbled to herself.

She twisted and turned as well, testing the unique feeling between her legs. She noticed the lack of weight on her chest, and turned away from Tayuya to examine her new breasts. She had felt them up before, of course, but now that they were hers, she wanted to test what it was like to have them. After she finished, she turned back around to see Tayuya examining the hands that once belonged to her. Suddenly, Oshime noticed a small stain spreading across Tayuya's crotch, staining her blue pants.

"Gah, Tayuya!" Oshime shouted, pointing, "You're peeing!"

Tayuya looked down, seeing the stain spread, unable to stop it before her new bladder had emptied itself.

"Oops, I guess I'm not used to having bladder control again..." Tayuya mumbled, blushing.

"Oh great, you just ruined my favorite pants..." Oshime replied, "Just lay down..."

"What? No way am I wearing diapers again!" Tayuya shouted, "I've been in them for three years. I want some time back in panties, however short it may be."

"It's my body and my clothes." Oshime replied, "I don't want you ruining any more of them."

"Oh well, my consciousness." Tayuya remarked, "Besides, I've got bladder control again, so I just have to get used to it."

"And I don't want you potty-training with my panties as training pants..." Oshime replied.

"I'm not going to wet any more pairs, I'll be fine." Tayuya replied.

"Sorry, but I'm not willing to risk my clothes on that outcome..." Oshime responded.

"...Fine...but you owe me." Tayuya replied, not sure she would be able to stay dry even if she tried, "I'll expect you to 'try' a little harder after this mission."

Oshime looked confused for a second, but realization dawned on her, and she gave a bit of a smile.

"Heh, ok." Oshime replied, winking, "Sounds fun."

Kin had been watching the whole time, confused as to why they were acting like this, but not questioning anything. Tayuya sighed, and laid down on the cold ground. Oshime knelt down, and slid her wet pants off of her, followed by her wet panties. With a sigh, Oshime discarded the panties off to the side. She felt a bit odd about changing her own body into a diaper, even if she was not inhabiting it at the time. Kin watched with a curious look on her face as Oshime wiped and powdered Tayuya's current body, before taping a diaper onto it.

"Hey, you said you didn't wear them!" Kin shouted, looking at the new Tayuya.

Tayuya and Oshime looked at each other, knowing that Kin would not understand the truth.

"Umm, it's just temporary." Tayuya stated, "I'll be back to regular underwear soon enough..."

Oshime removed a new pair of pants from her old pack, and slid them up Tayuya's legs.

"If you can show me that you can use the toilet while in my body, I'll let you wear my panties." Oshime stated, almost as if to a child.

Tayuya stood up, and looked at the end of the hallway, seeing the door at the end. They continued walking, Kin right behind them. As they approached the end, the floor suddenly gave out in front of them, each jumping forward to save themselves. Tayuya, not used to being in a more acrobatic body, overdid the jump, nearly crashing into the wall that was right past the small section of safe floor after the pit. Oshime, on the other had, did the exact opposite, having to grab the side of the pit, lest she fall to oblivion. She managed to pull herself up, a bit nervous of what could have happened. Kin, having been behind the other two, was still trapped at the other side, legs shaking as she looked at the drop.

"We can't trust her to jump that, can we?" Oshime asked.

"Not with her mind in the state she's in," Tayuya replied, "She wouldn't know how much force to put into it."

"True..." Oshime replied, "Just jump back over the pit with my body, pick her up, and leap back over."

"And why can't you do it?" Tayuya asked.

"Because you overjumped the pit, I underjumped it." Oshime replied, "My body is more acrobatic, so you have a better chance at using it."

Tayuya sighed, knowing that she was bested by her logic. She leapt back over the pit, overjumping by a smaller margin than before. When she had reached the other side, she lifted the frightened Kin off the ground, who hugged her tightly. She turned back around, and leapt again. She compensated for the additional weight, landing right in front of the door to the next room. Tayuya placed Kin on the ground, although she was a bit reluctant to let go. Oshime opened the door, revealing a simple, empty room.

"Hmm, I wonder what's inside..." Tayuya muttered.

"Only one way to find out..." Oshime responded.

The three girls entered the room, hearing door slam behind them. They looked around for any sign of an opponent, but saw nothing.

"I wouldn't have expected you to make it this far." The mysterious voice said through the loudspeaker system, "No matter, you won't be leaving here with your life. "

Suddenly, a figure fell from above, landing on his feet. He stood up, and looked at them. He had blue hair in a wild mohawk design, reaching down to his mid-back, with blue stubble covering the rest of his head. Mixed with the stubble were a few rows of braided yellow hair, as well as a yellow patch on the part of his mohawk right above his forehead. He had a couple of lip piercings, along with a few in each ear. His eyes were hidden by his shades, which also covered his eyebrows. He was shirtless, with an almost-glowing white tattoo of a bird on his arm. He had two sheaths on his back, about seven feet long each, the topmost one with a sword hilt sticking out of it.

"Heh, you're my opponents?" He asked, "I wasn't told I'd be fighting a couple of chickies, but as long as I win, it doesn't matter."

"...'chickies'?" Tayuya questioned, anger growing.

"Don't worry, let's just fight. It won't last long, what with you being a couple of girls, and all." He stated.

"Just shut up and let us kill you." Oshime replied, getting into stance.

"Hehe, we'll see about that. You may call me Ixero," He remarked, "Here is where your journey ends."

-~-

When Anko opened the door to the next room, the girls saw a hallway that continued forward for a long while.

"Be prepared for traps." Anko stated, "You never know what might be ahead."

Both girls nodded, and followed their mission leader down the long hallway. Sakura hated how her tattered pants could no longer subdue the crinkling sound, hearing it echo repeatedly with every step down the hallway. It also did not help that her head was buzzing slightly, but that scared her more than it annoyed her. She was afraid that she was regressing again, but felt no different, just a buzzing in her head. She continued forward, on the lookout for any traps she might come across. Ino kept her eyes on Anko's feet, since her being in the lead would mean that she would activate a trap before the younger two girls, thus giving Ino enough time to react. However, they continued forward, not encountering any traps. Unfortunately, the end of the hallway never seemed to come. After five minutes of walking forward, no end in sight, Anko stopped.

"What's wrong, Anko sensei?" Ino asked, remembering to add the "sensei".

"Something's not right..." Anko replied.

She removed a kunai from her pack, and scratched the Leaf Village symbol on the wall of the hallway. She placed the kunai back into her pack, and continued walking forward. Ino and Sakura looked back to each other, and began following Anko once more. After about another minute of walking, Anko spotted the symbol she had scratched into the wall.

"It's the same symbol!" Ino shouted, "How is that possible!?"

"It's a genjutsu." Anko replied, "Relatively common, but I don't believe it'll be as easily broken as it usually is."

All three kunoichi placed their hands together into the same handsign, and shouted "Release". When they opened their eyes, they were still in the hallway, scratch-mark intact. However, that did not prove effectiveness or not, so they walked forward once again. As before, after a minute or so, they re-met their simple marking, signifying the failure of the genjutsu release.

"Hmm, as I figured..." Anko stated, "Well, time for better measures."

"Such as?" Sakura questioned, "You have any ideas?"

"Just this," Anko replied, turning around.

Without warning, Anko knocked their heads together, causing each to flinch and hold their heads in pain. Anko quickly knocked her own head against theirs, causing pain to each. Suddenly, the entire hallway began to sway and tremble, although Sakura and Ino were not sure if that was due to the genjutsu fading or head trauma. However, the swaying ended, revealing the three to be standing right in front of the door they entered in, the marking on the wall next to them.

"Ow..." Ino muttered, holding her head, "Couldn't we just have sliced our fingers with a kunai or something."

"Nope" Anko replied, not showing any visible pain from the headbutt, "It needed to be simultaneous pain, since it was a group genjutsu."

"Then why did you clack our heads together first, before the simultaneous attack?" Sakura asked, trying not to show the few tears in her eyes.

"It's hard to headbutt two heads at the same time," Anko replied, "I just had to make sure that one of you wouldn't move out of the way."

Ino mumbled something under her breath, which would not be flattering if it was heard by its intended subject.

"What was that?" Anko questioned, getting up to Ino, "You want to continue on from here in the nude?"

"N-nothing, never mind!" Ino replied, scared of the threat, "Sorry..."

"That's what I thought..." Anko replied, continuing forward.

The three girls walked forward, recognizing as they made progress this time, the door far in the distance getting slightly closer as they continued. After a few minutes, they reached the door, surprised at the lack of other traps. Anko pushed the door open, revealing a square room, with fenced ledges around a dark pit. Anko saw a door on the other side, and walked across the ledge towards it. As they got close to the door, Anko glanced down into the pit, and was surprised to see three figures walking along whatever ground the darkness obscured. Anko signaled for the two to come over, and pointed down towards the three moving figures. They could not be discerned due to the darkness, but there were definitely three of them.

"Ino, could your Mind Transfer jutsu reach one of them from here?" Anko whispered.

"Yes, but it'd be very hard to aim from here." Ino replied.

"That's ok, we can take the chance. We need to get some recon info from the enemy." Anko whispered, "Besides, if you miss, we'll just take your body with us and protect it for the few minutes that it is without a consciousness."

"I'll give you a simple signal if I make it in." Ino stated.

Ino nodded, and placed her hands in a square formation. She aimed towards one of the figures, and quickly jerked her hands forward. Her mind launched from her hands, invisible and silent, quickly flying in a straight line towards where the figures were. Ino saw the figures come up close, but could not discern their looks due to the speed she was going. She felt half of her mind pass through the head of one of the figures, but not enough to take her over. Part of Ino's mind latched on to the first target, however, while the rest continued forward. The remaining part of Ino's mind passed partly through another person's head an infinitesimally small period of time after, grasping onto that body as well. Ino's mind was unable to hold onto both of the two weak connections, and tried to let each go, but doing so in an awkward manner, having to deal with a missed attempt. Ino's body had slumped over the second she had released, currently without a mind to call its own. After a second, Anko saw two of the figures stop for a second, before continuing ahead. Anko gave it a few more seconds, before assuming that Ino's jutsu was unsuccessful. Anko nodded at Sakura, who lifted Ino's body onto her back.

"We can't risk staying in this room." Anko whispered, releasing a snake.

The snake somehow squeezed under the very thin opening under the door to the next room, before turning back and slithering up Anko's arm. The snake came up to Anko's ear, and hissed a few times before dissolving.

"The next room is a hallway." Anko whispered, "We can hide in there while we wait for Ino's mind to return."

Sakura nodded, and carried Ino to the door, which Anko opened. Sakura walked inside, hearing the door close shortly after her. She propped Ino up against the wall, turning to look at Anko.

"How long does this usually take?" Anko asked, referring to Ino.

"I'm not sure," Sakura replied, "All I know is that it's a 'few minutes'."

"I'd figure two girls as close as you would know more about each other's abilities." Anko replied, sitting against the opposite wall.

"Err, what do you mean by that?" Sakura asked.

"Aren't you two...'together'?" Anko asked.

"What!? No!" Sakura shouted, shocked at even the allegations.

"But what you two have been doing, and the way she's...'attended' to you..." Anko replied, referring to the diaper changes, "I assumed that you were dating."

"Of course not!" Sakura replied, "The whole village knows how much I love Sasuke, as does Ino."

"I figured you two would be hiding it, so you used Sasuke as a fake love interest so that people wouldn't think you swung that way. I mean, it was so over the top, I thought it couldn't be anything but fake love." Anko stated, calmly, "Plus you two could use your pretend attraction to Sasuke in order to fake a rivalry, thus lessening the chances of being outed even more than they already were."

"You've really thought this through..." Sakura muttered, "I'm...not sure how to respond to that..."

"Heh, it's ok, I guess I was just jumping to conclusions." Anko stated, "But, what I want to know is, if she isn't your girlfriend, why is Ino the one changing you? Can't you do it yourself?"

"Well..." Sakura started, unsure if she should tell the truth, "Ino discovered that I was wearing a Pull-up, and began basically blackmailing me with that info..."

"I can't say I approve of blackmail..." Anko replied, "But it's also not really any of my business unless it hinders the mission. Hmm, just let me know if it gets too severe, kid."

"Ok, Anko-sensei" Sakura stated, glancing over at Ino.

As she finished, the floor suddenly dropped out from under them, a surprisingly delayed trap. Anko, quicker on her feet, leapt out of her sitting position, grabbing Ino before she plummeted, and landed on the other side. Sakura made it across, as well, but not as easily as Anko made it look. As they landed, that part of the floor fell as well, catching them by surprise. This time, they stumbled, but ran across the floor, each section beginning to fall. The opening to the next room came in to view, but the tiles were falling faster than they were running. Anko knew Ino was weighing her down, throwing her into the door opening, and into the next room. Anko leapt immediately after, followed by Sakura, landing through the doorway, right on Ino's stomach. Sakura landed right at the edge of the doorway, an inch shy of missing. Anko picked Ino's body back up, hoisting her over her shoulder. She looked around the current room, which was just a cavern, complete with stalactites and stalagmites spread around the ceiling and floor, respectively.

"Heh, what kind of challenge is this?" A female voice asked, "One of my opponents is already unconscious."

Anko turned to see a girl about Sakura's age with pink and purple hair tied into a sloppy bun. She was wearing a simple tracksuit jacket, white, with green sleeves. Her navy short shorts had the same heart symbol that was on each sleeve of her jacket. Sakura went into attack stance, preparing for a possible.

"Well, I'll just kill you two, either way." The girl stated, "Slithers, put Blondy down, so you and Pinky can fight properly."

"Slithers...?" Anko mumbled.

"Pinky!?" Sakura shouted, much angrier than she should be due to her nickname being mostly a simple observation.

"Hmm, well, oddly disproportionate anger, but let's do this." She stated, "I'm Yuri Zaregoto, not that you care. Time for you to die."


	9. Altered Perceptions

**Chapter 9 – Altered Perceptions**

Tayuya reached for her flute, forgetting her current situation. Recognizing her mistake, she slid Oshime's sword out of its sheath, holding it awkwardly in the air.

"Kin, stay back." Oshime stated, pointing towards the door they entered.

Kin looked very nervous, merely nodding and backing away towards the door.

"You sure you want to do this?" Tayuya asked, "You're going to die if you do."

"Hehe, as if two little ladies could ever hope to harm me." He replied, "Why don't you go back to doing the laundry or whatever so us men can do some real ninja work."

The vein on Oshime's forehead throbbed, due to the presence of a more temperamental consciousness within. Tayuya's body stayed staring at Ixero, grasping for a kunai from the pouch. Ixero smirked, and held out his arm towards the body of Tayuya.

"Shattering Sphere!" He shouted, as a glass ball grew in front of his hand.

The ball shot from his hand, towards the body of Tayuya. Oshime, caught off guard, could only try and slash at the ball with the kunai she was holding. Unfortunately for her, once she hit the ball, the entirety of it burst into an uncountable number of glass shards, continuing their momentum forward. Oshime had to way to block the shards, only able to cover her face with her arms while the shards ripped through many parts of Tayuya's body, leaving multiple scratches across her.

"Oshime!" Tayuya shouted, "Be a bit more careful with my body..."

"Sorry, Tayuya," Oshime replied, "But you're not one to talk after what you did to my underwear after we switched bodies..."

"What in the hell are you two chicks rambling about?" Ixero questioned, raising his eyebrow behind his sunglasses, "Are you telling me that you actually switched bodies?"

"Maybe," Oshime replied, "If so, we're both handicapped for this battle. You really going to beat up two handicapped girls?"

"Hah, you think I care about shit like that?" Ixero responded, "As long as I kill you, I get my reward, and I'm not going to let you go. I'd beat you to death even if you were a blind, crippled child."

"How chivalrous..." Oshime mumbled.

Tayuya, sensing an opportunity, rushed up to Ixero and attempted to slash at him using Oshime's sword. However, her lack of experience with this blade, and swords in general, along with the different physical capabilities of her current body, allowed Ixero the time to defend himself, creating a wall made of glass a few feet in front of her face. Tayuya had been in mid-swing at that moment, unable to stop herself from slashing at the fragile barrier. The blade effortlessly broke the barrier, creating a few large chunks of glass and many smaller pieces.

"Shard Stream" Ixero stated calmly, smirking.

The chunks of glass hovered in mid-air, before suddenly shattering further into countless tiny shards, launching forward suddenly. Tayuya had no way to dodge them, feeling them slash and cut this body's flesh in multiple locations.

"You ok, Tayuya?" Oshime asked, not chastising her for the damage to her body, as Tayuya had done shortly before.

"Yeah, just some scratches." Tayuya replied, wiping the blood that had flowed over her eyes, "Right now, I'm the only one who can use your sword, right?"

"As long as you have my chakra signature, only you can use it." Oshime replied.

"Figured as much. Tell me how to use it." Tayuya stated.

"Well, just focus on which jutsu you want to use, and focus your chakra through it, molding it to the image in your mind." Oshime stated, "What about your flute?"

"That's a bit trickier," Tayuya replied, "Only one attack doesn't require an intricate melody."

"That's what I figured," Oshime replied, "Mold your chakra through it, and play a specific melody while doing so."

"That's about how it works." Tayuya replied, glancing at the blade in her hands.

"You two ladies can chit-chat later," Ixero replied, "Well, not really, as you'll be dead, but you get my point."

"Just shut up and die..." Tayuya shouted, concentrating on the image in her mind.

After a second, the jaws of the dragon on the hilt opened wider, spewing flames over the length of the blade. The blade under the flames became red-hot, glowing from the heat of the fire.

"Hmm, not bad." Tayuya muttered, admiring her work.

"Well, at least you're trying, now." Ixero stated, placing his hands into a handsign, "Glass Sand!"

As he spoke, the ground began to rumble, miniscule shards of glass pouring up resembling whiteish sand. Ixero raised two thick tendrils of the sand, shooting one towards each girl. Tayuya swung the blade at the sand, knocking the tendril away for a second before it came back for another attack. Oshime placed Tayuya's flute to her lips, pouring chakra into it while she randomly blew notes as hard as she could. The result was a burst of compressed air that collided with the sand, spilling it across the ground. However, it reformed itself quickly, launching at Oshime again. It was too quick to get another shot of air at, colliding with her arm before she could fully dodge. The multiple tiny shards left enough scratches at the area of impact that no skin around the area was left unbloodied.

"Dammit, we'll never win like this..." Tayuya muttered, "We need our own bodies back!"

"Just concentrate on which jutsu you want to use, and make good use of it." Oshime replied, "You can use most of my arsenal, so you're in better shape than I am."

"Any suggestions?" Tayuya queried.

"Hmm, try the one I perfected a few weeks ago." Oshime replied.

"Right, right..." Tayuya responded, picturing the jutsu, "Piercing Heaven Spear!"

The flaming blade quickly lengthened, rocketing towards Ixero. Its speed combined with the piercing assistance of the heat allowed it to shoot through the shard tendril as if it was not even there. Ixero saw the blade coming, able to get far enough out of the way to avoid a fatal blow, taking a glance across the shoulder. He winced as the hot metal sliced through his skin, not bleeding much as the burns had actually sealed the wound quite quickly, but hurt tremendously moreso than a usual slash. The blade quickly retracted, going back to its original length, still on fire.

"Hmm, interesting." Ixero replied, "Not bad for a couple of chicks. I may have to actually put forth some effort."

"If you want to live, you had better." Tayuya replied.

Kin stayed huddled against the closed door, scared and shaking, watching the two people that seemed nice to her get beaten up and covered in blood. A few tears coated her face as she watched, a voice deep inside her telling her not to cry, despite the situation.

"Tayuya, I can't use your flute jutsu, but what about you Doki Form ninju-" Oshime began, stopping and blushing as she felt herself begin wetting the diaper she was wearing.

She knew she really should not be embarrassed, as she was inhabiting Tayuya's body, and she of course had no control down there. Despite the logic, the embarrassment stayed, although Oshime could not help but pay attention to the unique feeling as her bladder emptied. She could feel that the diaper was warmer, and somewhat wet, expanding a bit as it filled up.

"Err, Oshime, you ok?" Tayuya asked, "You're spacing out."

"Oh, umm, yeah." Oshime replied, still blushing a bit, "What about your Doki Form jutsu?"

"Hmm, that's a bit different." Tayuya replied, "It requires the summoning pact with the Doki."

"I thought I signed one of those a month or so ago?" Oshime questioned.

"That was with the Doki Guardian" Tayuya replied, "Same family, different contract."

"I guess that being in your body doesn't change anything?" Oshime asked.

"I guess it does, but there's a mental concentration aspect that requires knowledge of the specific contract details." Tayuya replied.

"Damn..." Oshime muttered.

Tayuya looked at Oshime, letting her know that she had an idea. Oshime saw the look, and nodded, not sure of the plan, but trusting Tayuya's judgment. As the only thing Oshime could do was the compressed air blast, she assumed that she was expected to do that a few times. She placed the flute to her lips, seeing Tayuya nod out of the corner of her eyes. Tayuya slashed at the shard tendril in front of her, watching it reform itself each time she did. When it attacked her, she dodged to the side repeating this a few times. Oshime watched and noticed that Tayuya was actually getting closer to Ixero, figuring out her plan as she watched. Tayuya nodded at Oshime again, signaling Oshime to attack. On cue, Oshime shot a compressed air blast, hitting the tendril not in front of her, but in front of Tayuya. As a result, she took a glancing blow from the one attacking her, but the one attacking Tayuya was scattered once again, creating a small area of mist where the attack was. Tayuya leapt through this obscuration, getting a few nicks and cuts from loose glass shards. Ixero, not expecting this, was unable to dodge or block as Tayuya rammed the sword through his gut. Ixero's look of surprise switched to a smirk, confusing Tayuya until the impaled body collapsed into a pile of glass shards.

"Dammit, a clone!" Tayuya shouted.

"Not bad, not bad...for a girl" Ixero stated, behind Tayuya.

Tayuya turned, and saw that the tendril she had been battling collapsed into a pile of shards, before reforming itself into Ixero.

"Good thing I always come prepared, or else I'd be in trouble." Ixero taunted, "Don't think that you'll get that lucky again."

"Tayuya, use my signature jutsu!" Oshime shouted, clutching her bleeding arm.

Tayuya nodded, concerned about the damage that Oshime had taken, but knowing they needed to win this battle. She pictured the jutsu in question, pouring the required chakra from her arm into the blade.

"Bladed Dragon Ledge!" Tayuya shouted.

"...It's 'Edge'!" Oshime shouted to Tayuya, although the name had no bearing on the success of the jutsu.

"Whatever!" Tayuya shouted back, feeling the chakra begin to take effect.

The etching of a dragon on the blade began to glow, and expanded till it reached the edge of the blade. The blade itself took the shape of a dragon, yet appeared to still be flat and sharp like a blade. Ixero raised his eyebrow as the dragon launched itself towards him, extending from the hilt of the blade, yet still attached to it. Despite still being as hard as steel, the dragon was able to curve and turn its metal body. The dragon was three feet tall at its head, and continued to get thinner as it reached the hilt of Sui-Riu. Ixero dodged the dragon, which twisted to attempt to attack him again. He managed to avoid each blow, but not by much. With one enhanced leap, Ixero landed on the other end of the battlefield.

"Hmm, interesting. Fancy sword tricks." Ixero stated, grasping the hilt coming from one of his two sheaths, "I believe that you've earned yourself a view of my sword talents. But I warn you, you ladies won't survive what you're about to witness."

-~-

Anko placed Ino's unconscious body against the wall of the room, returning to her position next to Sakura, ready to fight if need be. Yuri looked at each of them, cruel smirk on her face.

"If I actually cared about crap like this, I'd almost feel bad about beating up a handicapped team." Yuri mocked, "One's unconscious, one's wearing a diaper, and the other just plain looks like a moron."

Sakura both blushed and grew angry at Yuri's words, wishing she had another pair of pants to change into. Yuri's comments made Sakura more conscious of the crinkling of her diaper, unable to place the sound out of her mind. Not only that, but her head was buzzing, which scared her greatly due to the possibility of complete or even partial regression. She tried to ignore the buzzing, but found it a bit difficult to do so completely. As if to add gasoline to the fire, Sakura could feel herself wetting at that moment, hating the fact that she had instinctively turned towards Ino afterwards.

"C'mon, Crinkles, stop looking at your girlfriend and fight me." Yuri taunted, "Mesh is ready to fight."

Sakura clenched her fist, her anger building as the spunky girl mocked them with every word. She ran up to Yuri, attempting to punch her with her strength, but Yuri leapt back to dodge, seeing the punch create a small crater in the ground where she was.

"Heh, interesting, very very interesting..." Yuri stated, smirking, "You have more potential than I thought, Pinky."

"Don't call me that!" Sakura shouted, rushing again.

Yuri dodged this punch as well, noticing another small crater. She landed, and built chakra into her right fist, punching the ground directly afterwards.

"Wave Tremor!"

The punch caused the ground to ripple as if it were rubber, knocking both Anko and Sakura over, and causing Ino's body to flop around like a puppet. The attack also dislodged numerous rocks from the cavern floor, leaving jagged stones all over the ground. Yuri smirked, and held her arms out as thin strings of chakra reached out to the stones, and grabbed them. The strings retracted, pulling the rocks with them, until her arms were covered with spiky rocks, collected mostly around her fist, where the spikes were larger and thicker than the rest. Anko and Sakura got to their feet, paying attention to the jagged stones on Yuri's arms, each plotting a strategy. Anko released a few snakes from her sleeves, launching them at Yuri. Yuri smashed them with her fists, leaving a small crater, similar to Sakura's. Yuri ran in to punch Anko, but was countered by Sakura, who punched as well, the momentum hurting each other, Sakura moreso due to the spiked rocks.

"Hey Crinkles, that kind of hurt," Yuri taunted, "I'll make sure to return it tenfold."

"We'll see about that, Bitch." Sakura seethed.

Ino's body twitched once, and then again, as her eyes opened, revealing her current location. She blinked a few times to take in the sight, while her brain processed it. After a second or two, she realized that Sakura and Anko were fighting an enemy. She shot to her feet, ready to help in any way that she could.

"Ino, get focused!" Anko shouted, noticing her awake.

Ino ran over to the two, placing her hands into a handsign.

"Flower Fall!"

Ino stared directly at Yuri, who had no time to look away before being placed into a genjutsu. Yuri felt herself falling, noticing nothing but flowers around her. They obscured her vision and made it hard to place her hands into the "Release" handsign, but she managed to get it after a bit of fumbling. Unfortunately for her, "Release" did nothing, prompting her to dig into her pouch for a kunai. She noticed that she did not seem to have her pouch in this genjutsu, unsurprisingly, as her fists were not rocky, either. She bit her finger with all her strength, but it did not seem to be painful enough to release the genjutsu, even though it was quite painful.

"Dammit..." Yuri muttered.

She slid her shoe off, and hesitated a second before breaking her pinky toe. She winced in pain, but saw the cavern come back into focus just in time to roll out of the way of the kunai that was about to be plunged through her neck. She hopped back to her feet, noticing at the pain in her toe, but placing it out of her mind. She reattached the rocks that she had lost when she fell into the genjutsu, creating the jagged fists again. She held up one hand towards the three kunoichi, and suddenly launched a few of the jagged rocks towards them. The speed of the stones was incredible, almost unavoidable. Sakura took one in the shoulder and knee, Anko was hit in the elbow, and Ino was hit in each forearm. The three ninja each removed the stones from their body, wincing in pain as they did. Blood trickled from the wounds, which Sakura quickly attended to with her healing capabilities.

"Dammit, she's better than I thought..." Sakura stated, finishing up the healing of her wound.

As if to prove Sakura's thought, the rocks on Yuri's hand began spinning around each of her arms, creating something resembling rocky drills. Yuri ran up towards the three, who dodged to the sides, Anko to the left, Ino and Sakura to the right. Yuri followed up by leaping to the right, attempting to take out both Sakura and Ino, one with each punch. Sakura used her strength to push Ino out of the way, not able to fully avoid the punch. She felt the ever-growing buzzing in her head as the punch connected, smashing her into a nearby wall. She began healing her wounds, finding it harder to concentrate now that her head was buzzing uncontrollably. By the time that she had fully finished healing her deep injury, the buzzing her head had changed into an all too familiar feeling of warmth. She wanted to fight it, but she had used so much chakra in healing, that there was no way for her to. Sakura felt her mind regress quickly, leaving her adult mannerisms behind. Thankfully, she not in much pain due to her healing, so her infantile mind did not scream and cry, merely suck her thumb while looking ahead, not noticing as Yuri ran up to her side to attempt to land another punch on the pink-haired girl. However, Anko managed to release a stream of snakes, which wrapped around Yuri to prevent her from punching. Ino leapt in, grabbing Sakura and taking her across the room.

"You need to be more careful, Sakura!" Ino stated, not noticing Sakura's thumb-sucking, "You almost got killed."

"Mama!" Sakura simply replied, some drool falling from her thumb.

Ino looked down in shock, noticing Sakura's thumb-sucking and vacant look in her eyes, sighing as she did.

"Dammit, Sakura, why now of all times...?" Ino mumbled, giving a fake smile to the regressed Sakura.

Sakura gave a big goofy smile back, continuing to work on her thumb.

"What's with her?" Anko asked, struggling to keep Yuri tangled up by the snakes.

"Err, I'll explain later," Ino answered, "For now, we just need to beat this girl."

Anko nodded, struggling to keep Yuri bound by the snakes. Suddenly, the snakes burst, dissolving as usual, as Yuri shot up from the tangle. She turned towards Anko, and shot two more rocks towards her. Anko managed to release two more snakes which hit the rocks, dissolving, but knocking the rocks harmlessly to the ground. Yuri turned, seeing Sakura sucking her thumb with a blank look on her face. Yuri gasped in shock, stumbling backwards. Ino looked confused, wondering why Yuri had such an intense reaction to Sakura's condition. Sure, it was probably odd to see your opponent sitting down and sucking her thumb with a goofy smile, but her reaction still seemed overdone in Ino's eyes.

"How did she...?" Yuri mumbled, looking back and forth between Anko and Ino quickly.

"It's...complicated." Ino replied, glancing over at Sakura.

"So, this is...normal?" Yuri questioned.

"Kind of..." Ino replied, noticing Anko take position behind Yuri.

"Must just be coincidence, then..." Yuri mumbled to herself, not noticing Anko.

The purple-haired kunoichi created numerous fangs along her palm and fingers, quickly grabbing Yuri around the next to strangle and stab her at the same time. As she did, however, Yuri crumbled into a pile of rocks, as a hand grabbed the back of Anko's head.

"A clone!" Ino shouted, as Yuri crumbled into rocks.

"You thought you were going to win?" Yuri questioned, smirking cruelly while gripping Anko's head, "You haven't even seen my Kekkei Genkai yet, nor my full power."

"Anko-sensei!" Ino shouted, trying to think up a counter-measure.

"Dammit!" Anko shouted, trying to get out of Yuri's grasp.

"Pinky is already out of the battle, and now you're about to be, as well." Yuri taunted, "Say good-night, Slithers."


	10. Phantasmagoria

**Chapter 10 - Phantasmagoria**

"Your sword may have some interesting abilities, but it pales in comparison to my own." Ixero taunted, grasping the hilt sticking out of the top sheath.

Ixero slid the hilt from the sleeve, revealing the rest of his sword design. Just like the sheath, the sword was about seven feet long, but what was surprising was the second blade that followed the first. It looked exactly the same, sans hilt, hovering in the air a foot away from, and parallel to, the regular sword blade. Each blade was mostly black, with a blue edge, noticeably a double-edged sword.

"I present to you, Phantasmagoria." Ixero stated, "You won't last long against it."

Oshime stared at it in wonder, curious as to the function of the floating blade. Not given a chance to ponder, Ixero rushed towards Tayuya, swinging the sword such that the floating blade would hit Oshime's body, instead of the attached one. Tayuya, impressed by his speed, was only able to place the dragon sword's body in the way to defend herself. When the floating blade hit, it actually held little strength, the force holding it a foot away from the sword apparently quite weak. However, the sword itself continued forward, hitting the floating blade head on. At that moment, Tayuya could feel the strength that the real sword was endowed with, before noticing it combine with the floating blade with a single pulse of power, suddenly exploding in strength. It was only for a short bit, but Tayuya was almost unable to prevent the sword from just ripping through the steel dragon due to the enhanced strength. Tayuya was lucky it only lasted for a second or so before going back to its original strength, lest her worries come true. Not taking any chances with this unknown sword, Tayuya jumped backwards from her position, and landed ten feet behind her original location, impressed by the sword's power. Ixero swung his sword through the air tauntingly, the floating blade back in place, despite having combined with the original blade.

"Impressed?" Ixero questioned, "Let me explain it to you. Phantasmagoria has the special power to replicate its own blade, and levitate it next to the sword. These replications are called Phantasms, collectively the Phantasmagory."

"Big words for a moron like yourself." Tayuya stated, smirking, "I'm surprised you know what they mean."

"I can make as many Phantasms as I want," Ixero stated, as numerous came into existence next to the previous one, "They all float one foot away from either the one before it, or the blade, either side of it. When they come into contact with each other, they combine for later use. However, when a Phantasm connects with the original blade, it combines, and for a moment, multiplies the strength of my original swing fivefold. Every Phantasm multiplies the original swing fivefold, so combining Phantasms would increase the multiplication factor by however many Phantasms make up the combined one."

"Such power..." Oshime muttered, getting nervous.

The knees of her current body began shaking, confidence in victory dropping with every second that this battle continued. They were each bloody and beaten, while their opponent had a minor wound on his shoulder, and just shown his trump card. However, she would not give up. She had no right to sacrifice Tayuya's body to death, nor would she want to leave her behind. In a feat of blind willpower, Oshime gripped a kunai, and rushed towards Ixero. She used the side of the kunai to attempt to slash Ixero, not caring as he blocked it with the only Phantasm on that edge of the sword. She noticed how easily the Phantasm slid back towards the original, realizing her mistake when the two combined, the burst of power enough to slice her kunai in half as if it was not even there, continuing for Tayuya's body. Her body froze as her mind became numb, unable to even think, knowing that she would be unable to dodge this obviously fatal blow. With this one death, two lives were about to end. While she was not seeing her life flash before her eyes, She was aware that time appeared to have slowed down, which seemed to be another effect of knowing one's own life was about to end. At that moment, Oshime felt a blunt force hit her on the side, knocking her away. She turned her head as her body tumbled, seeing the flat side of the Bladed Dragon Edge jutsu had knocked her away from imminent death. It was then that she realized that she had been saved by Tayuya's quick thinking and her own jutsu. The slowing of time was not an effect of her life about to end, it was her Temporal Eternity jutsu.

"Impressive speed" Ixero remarked, slowed down, "However, it's obviously a special jutsu, not your natural ability, which means you can't keep it up forever."

As if to prove his point, the jutsu faded as he finished speaking, returning his mind to standard speed. He used that moment to rush towards Tayuya, swinging his sword with three Phantasms toward her. Tayuya did the first thing she could think of, wrapping the dragon's body around his. However, his sword arm was not pinned under the dragon, as his other arm was. Instead of looking annoyed, he smirked, and pointed the edge of the blade and Phantasms towards Tayuya. Suddenly, the front-most replication launched itself away from the others, giving Tayuya little time to duck out of the way before it collided with her. She managed to dodge it, but the loss of concentration almost allowed Ixero to free himself. Without wasting a moment, Ixero fused the two Phantasms remaining, and launched them at Tayuya again. This time, though, it was twice as fast as the previous one. With a loud clang, metal pieces fell to the ground, along with the combined Phantasm. Tayuya turned and saw Oshime, looking down to see a shattered kunai splayed around the Phantasm.

"Thanks" Tayuya stated, with a small smile.

"Anytime" Oshime responded.

Ixero's face remained unchanged, merely looking ahead. In an instant, three more Phantasms appeared in front of the sword, just as Ixero used what was imprisoning him to get them to combine into one. Instead of connecting the combined Phantasm with the sword, he slid the blade and Phantasm into the space between the dragon and himself, the tightness slicing him a bit. He did not wince, merely slid the sword until the combined Phantasm connected with the sword, using the massive strength boost to yank the dragon away from his body. Continuing the swing, the sword crashed into the ground, massive strength creating a large crater and tremor.

"Nice try, but not good enough." Ixero stated, smirking, "I believe that you're forgetting a little something."

After he spoke, walls of glass appeared in numerous different locations around the room. Using his hilt, he broke one of the walls, the glass shards launching directly towards Tayuya. She managed to use the dragon's body to block most of the shards, only getting grazed by a few of them. Unfortunately, moving the dragon caused it to break one of the walls, launching more shards at Tayuya, and some at Oshime. Tayuya was slashed by a few more of them, while Oshime managed to dodge, being further away from the wall than Tayuya.

"You can't take much more of this." Ixero stated, smirking.

Kin was huddled against the wall, eyes closed and hands over her eyes, afraid to watch what was happening. A voice inside her said that she was not supposed to be so scared, but her mind was unable to overcome her fear, so she merely whimpered, a few tears coming between her fingers. The voice inside her sunk deeper, obscured by the fear she was feeling.

"Hmm, your third member has yet to do a thing..." Ixero remarked, looking over to her, "And her current pose makes me think she isn't combat-oriented."

"You wouldn't..." Oshime stated, glaring at him.

"You still think I care about chivalry and all that crap?" He scoffed, "As long as I win, and have some fun, I couldn't care less who I kill."

"Despicable..." Tayuya growled, "I'll make sure your face is unrecognizable by the time I'm through with you."

"Hah, right. You're halfway defeated as it is. You stand no chance." He replied.

"You have some weakness, some flaw in your style. We'll figure it out." Tayuya stated.

"Sorry, but you won't find anything like that." He responded, "You know what they say about double-edged swords, right? Well, I don't believe that."

As he spoke, he leapt to the side, and ran towards Kin. Kin, eyes still covered, did not notice him, although she probably would have been too scared to move, even if her eyes were open. Oshime's eyes went wide as she saw the target of his attack, looking over to Tayuya. Tayuya activated the Temporal Eternity jutsu, unsure that she was good enough to use it efficiently. She recognized the challenge of keeping the jutsu active, especially when she did not want Oshime to be affected as well. While the jutsu was active, Oshime lifted Tayuya's flute to her mouth, and blared any note she could, pouring chakra into it. Right before Ixero could slash at Kin, a blast of compressed air collided with him, knocking him over. Kin, hearing the blast, but not knowing the cause, whimpered in fear, afraid she was about to be attacked. The jutsu faded, bringing Ixero's mind back up to speed as he tumbled across the ground.

"Hmm, unexpected, but I'm still barely scratched, compared to your bloodied bodies." He taunted, "It's too bad, as well, because if it wasn't for the blood and scratches, you ladies would be worth hitting on."

Instead of yelling at him, Oshime repressed her anger, and reached into the pouch, removing every kunai left. She tossed them haphazardly in front of her, and shot off another blast of compressed air, launching all the kunai at Ixero. He smirked, knowing that he could easily dodge them or even deflect them with his sword, preparing to do so. However, before the kunai approached him, the dragon wrapped around him, restraining him again. This time, however, his sword arm was also pinned under the dragon, preventing him from using it to free himself. His face showed his anger as the kunai collided with him, embedding into his flesh. The wounds were not too deep, but he felt it was the first time that the two girls had managed to outsmart him in this battle.

"Now, it ends." Tayuya stated, smirking.

Without a word, Oshime ran towards him, and wrenched a kunai from his flesh. Unbeknownst to her, he had created a few more Phantasms under the dragon, the tightness combining them instantly. He was slicing himself a bit, but he did not care. Right as Oshime brought the kunai to his throat, he managed to release Phantasmagoria from his grip, the sword barely missing her foot as it crashed into the ground, combining with the enhanced Phantasm and creating a strong tremor. The vibration knocked Oshime off her feet, and caused Tayuya to stumble. Due to this, Ixero was able to free himself, grabbing his sword before anyone else could.

"I guess I need to step it up a notch." Ixero stated, "Shard Mist!"

All the glass walls shattered instantly, into tiny shards that floated through the air. They then multiplied, creating a thick mist made out of shards of glass, which encompassed the entire room, except for a column around and above Ixero. Oshime made note of this column, wondering how to use it to their advantage. Even by standing still, the shards sliced them as they drifted through the air, making it impossible not to get hurt, whether they moved or stood still. Ixero rushed towards Tayuya, the column of protection following him as he moved. As he reached Tayuya, the shards in the area spread around due to the column, slashing in various places on her skin. Ixero swung his sword at Tayuya, who ducked out of the way, and jumped back. Doing this, of course, got her sliced numerous times, adding to all the other scratches that she had received.

"Haha, all I have to do is wait, and you'll kill yourselves." He mocked, rushing again.

This time, he went after Oshime, who repeated the same thing Tayuya did, taking similar damage. As she looked at the column, a thought came into her mind, which grew as she took various slashes from the glass. It was surprisingly simple, yet effective. Oshime was quick to action, bringing the flute to her lips, and performing the only jutsu she could with it. As the blast of compressed air exited the end of the flute, it created a ripple, pushing the glass away from that location. It reached the column, where it launched numerous shards at Ixero, along with hitting him with the blast itself. It was strong enough to knock him backwards, faster than the column could protect him, allowing him to get hit with more shards. As he got to his feet, he grimaced at the attack, pissed off that his attack was used against him. He also knew that he would be prone to this strategy as long as he kept up his jutsu, deciding that he should end this soon.

"Fine then, if you're going to use that against me..." He muttered.

The shard mist suddenly began quivering, before all the shards were pulled into the center of the room, into a large ball. The shard's motion created a few more cuts on the two girls, but they paid them little thought as the ball grew in size until it contained all the shards in the area. Without warning, the ball shook and then exploded, launching shards in all directions. Tayuya managed to use the dragon's body to mostly shield her and Oshime, although they took some cuts here and there. The shards of glass littered the floor, leaving almost no floor tiles visible beneath the glass.

"You two have left me no choice." He stated, losing his previous demeanor, "I didn't think I'd need to use this against you scrubs...Mass Replication!"

As he spoke, numerous Phantasms appeared, everywhere around the room, floating randomly, instead of in front of the sword. There were at least a hundred in all, spread all over. As the Phantasms spread, she looked over to see the one thing she had been most nervous about since the mist spread; Kin. She was surprised to see a few glass walls surrounding her, which must have protected her from the mist.

"I guess you were more chivalrous than you said." Oshime stated, trying not to sound in anyway grateful.

"Huh?" Ixero question, before realizing what she meant, "Oh, hahaha, no, you see, I want to show her your bloodied corpses after I defeat you. I couldn't do that if she had died alongside you."

"...You monster!" Tayuya growled, growing angrier.

"Thanks." Ixero replied, cruel smirk on his face.

He held his sword up, as the Phantasms began shaking, before launching themselves towards Phantasmagoria. When they reached their destination, they combined into an enhanced Phantasm, floating where a normal Phantasm would. Even though it looked normal, the power it held could be felt emanating around the room. He ran towards them, knowing that one swing would end the battle. As he rushed towards them, Oshime launched another compressed air blast, while Tayuya had the dragon attack. The burst and the dragon hit the Phantasm at about the same time, attempting to push it back. As if a show of power, this Phantasm was difficult to even push backwards, unlike the others, which seemed to move at the slightest force. After a few seconds of struggling, Ixero standing his ground, the Phantasm touched the blade, and combined instantly. The second it did, it was slightly pushed backwards, towards Ixero. The power of the Phantasm multiplied this slight push thousands of times of times over, causing it to completely launch in an arc back towards Ixero, slicing him in half vertically, and crashing into the ground with a thunderous crash, creating a shockwave that knocked both girls off their feet. As they stood, they looked through the smoke to see the two halves of their opponent, a sickening gasp frozen on each half of his face, melt into the same goo that the other Kin clone had, leaving his sword and sheath laying in the puddle.

"That...was close." Oshime stated, a bit shaken up.

"Yeah...glad that worked..." Tayuya replied, pulling glass shards out of her shirt, "What now?"

-~-

Sakura sat to the side, not caring what was going on, just caring that she had her thumb to suck on or maybe her shirt to chew on. Ino, on the other hand, could only stare in shock at her opponent, who was gripping Anko's head as the latter tried futilely to escape.

"I was one of Lord Orochimaru's most promising test subjects." Yuri stated, "Despite his desire for the Sharingan, he saw in me the potential for true immortality, not that body invasion he was forced to use."

"What do you mean?" Anko managed, each hand pinned down by one of Yuri's feet.

"My clan possessed the Kekkei Genkai that allows us to alter the age of ourselves or others," Yuri stated, "Orochimaru thought that with some experimenting, he could use it to stop himself from aging. He never got that far, but he did imbue me with the strongest bloodline limit my clan has ever produced. I can specify the aging function I want to alter, like so..."

As she spoke, her hand began to glow orange, which caused Anko to try to increase her struggling. However, Anko stopped moving after a second, obviously being affected by the jutsu.

"Anko-sensei!" Ino shouted.

Yuri's hand stopped glowing, and she removed it from Anko's head, smirking cruelly. Anko's eyes were unfocused, staring forward. Within another second or two, her eyes re-focused, and she blinked, looking around.

"Owie..." Anko muttered, looking down at her hands.

"Oops, sorry Slithers." Yuri stated, stepping off each hand.

"Thanks, Lady!" Anko shouted, smiling.

"Why don't you go play with Pinky while I have some more fun with Slutty..." Yuri stated, pointing to Sakura, "But play nice, she's much younger than you."

"Okie!" Anko shouted, excitedly, running over.

"Wh-what did you do to her!?" Ino shouted.

"After it happened to your friend, I'd think you'd realize." Yuri replied, "I made her younger, mentally."

"Grr...you bitch!" Ino shouted, angered.

"After I finish you off, I'll let their mind's return to normal, although I'm not sure of how long that will take Pinky, and tell them I killed you, letting their grief last for just long enough, before I regress both of them again, physically and mentally." Yuri taunted, "I'm sure Lord Orochimaru would love to have his old student back, although he'll probably just kill Flatsy since she's all but useless."

Ino's eyes flared in anger, but her mind could think of no possibility on how to defeat her. Her mind jutsu would not be much use without her teammates, and her other genjutsu would do nothing but stall for time. She was left with few options, but knew of nothing else she could use. Sighing, she took stock of her available attacks, preparing herself to use them.

"Now, to deal with you..." Yuri mocked, "I think I'll have some fun with this..."

As she said this, more rocks began to assemble across her arms, extending to her chest and shoulders, like some kind of armor. The rocks then began spiraling around her hands, creating rocky drills that would be hard to avoid. Ino removed a few shuriken from her pouch, preparing herself for a fight. Yuri rushed in, swinging her rocky drill towards Ino, who dove to the side. Ino threw her shuriken, watching as they changed into flowers along the way. Yuri was a bit surprised, but dodged the flora shuriken, and rushed in again. Ino smirked, and threw a few shuriken again, watching as they transformed again, one grazing a rock protruding from Yuri's elbow. Yuri paid it no mind, considering it having been dodged. Unbeknownst to her, the shuriken glowed slightly, as thin vines grew from the location it had embedded itself in. Yuri looked at Ino's face, a bit curious as to why the latter looked smug. At that thought, Yuri noticed something out of the corner of her eye, seeing flowers on her elbow. She noticed the shuriken, seeing that there were vines and blue flowers spreading from it. She also noticed that the blue flowers were growing increasingly redder, almost three-quarters of the way filled in.

"What the hell...?" Yuri muttered, right as the flowers fully reddened.

As that happened, each flower exploded like a small bomb, knocking the rocks off her elbow. Yuri was knocked to the side, surprised at the power of that jutsu. She stood back up, still seeing that smug look on Ino's face.

"You got a lucky shot in, Slutty..." Yuri stated, "But it won't happen again."

Ino said nothing, merely getting into a fighting stance, still looking smug. Yuri was about to reassemble her rocks, but noticed a frightening sight on one of the rocks on her left hand, another flower. She began to wonder how that happened, and then realized that when she was knocked to the ground, she must have landed on another one. She went to launch those rocks off of her body, but the flowers were fully red before she could. With an explosion, Yuri was knocked to the floor, rocks splayed across the area. She stood up, looking no worse for wear, the rocks taking most of the impact for her. This time, she quickly looked herself over for any more flowers, but was fortunate to find none.

"A nice little diversion, but nothing more." Yuri mocked, "However, I'm not going to take any chances right now..."

As she spoke, more rocks came around her, covering her entire body, except for her eyes, in a rocky suit of armor. The rocks on her arm began spiraling again, spinning at a higher speed than they were before, and giving off an audible whirring noise. Ino grimaced at the armor, knowing that her previous attack would do little more than be an annoyance at this point. Ino merely reached into her pouch, pulling out numerous kunai and some wire. With a quick motion, she slid the wire through the loops on the handle, creating a string of kunai. She tied the ends of the wire, and threw the contraption forward. As it flew, it began spinning, creating a make-shift giant shuriken, which transformed into a giant flower mid-flight. Yuri noticed this, and smirked as she leapt over the flower, hearing it embed itself in the cavern floor behind her.

"Oh no, not again." Yuri stated, "Pony is going to have to find another trick."

Ino said nothing, merely stared at Yuri, planning her next move. Her opponent decided this for her, holding up her rocky drill arm and launching some of the extra rocks on her body at a high speed. Ino managed to dodge some of them, but took quite a few blows. She winced as she ripped the stones from her flesh, feeling the blood begin to pour down her skin. Yuri smirked, and began running towards Ino, her rocky arms beginning to spin faster than before. Before she had even taken two steps, she fell to the ground, having been tripped. Yuri looked down at her leg, and saw that it was bound by a thick vine. Her eyes widened as she saw that the vine, along with others, had spread from the giant flora shuriken, wrapping around her leg and the vicinity. She tried to pull away, but the flower suddenly glowed, and the vine growth accelerated greatly. Before Yuri had time to think up a counter plan, the vines had completely encompassed her, preventing her from moving. The vine clump twitched and shook as Yuri tried to escape, but was unable to. Large blue flowers quickly grew all over the vines, beginning to redden. Ino jumped backwards as the flowers fully reddened, bracing herself for the explosion. A split second later, a thunderous explosion burst through the area, knocking Ino backwards into the wall, and causing Anko and Sakura to begin crying.

"Don't worry, it's ok, you two are fine..." Ino stated, pulling herself shakily to her feet.

Anko calmed down first, and then attempted to calm Sakura down, although her mental state made that much more difficult. It took a few minutes, but Sakura forgot about the loud sound, and went back to sucking on her shirt. Ino looked over at the cloud of smoke where the explosion occurred, waiting for signs that she had won. She panted, out of breath, while the smoke cleared. Before it had cleared completely, she heard deep breathing from inside, along with a silhouette. Yuri came into focus, burn marks and bruising on various parts of her body, her shirt ripped in a few places, and only a couple of small sections still covered by rocks.

"I underestimated you..." Yuri sputtered, "But that will not happen again, Bitch."

Ino was a bit taken aback at this, as Yuri had never shown herself to be serious in this manner before now. She had retained her jocular persona even when she was getting attacked, but now she was visibly pissed off and quite serious. Yuri threw her hands together into a handsign, glaring at Ino in anger.

"Golem Armor!" Yuri shouted.

The rocks in the area quavered, and then launched themselves at Yuri, while more were pulled from the very ground they were standing on. They began to combine and spread around, until Yuri was covered head to toe in rocks that took the shape of a golem, but was at least fifteen feet tall. Ino stared at the golem, unsure of how to proceed.

"I...lost. There's nothing I can do..." Ino thought to herself, "I used my trump card, and only did a little bit..."

Yuri did not give Ino time to think, merely swinging her massive rock arm down towards her. Ino managed to dodge, but the collision was strong enough to knock her backwards, despite being at a distance. Before Ino had a chance to regain her composure, the other arm crashed next to her, knocking her across the ground again. Ino stood up shakily, no idea how to combat this. Even though it was not her strong suit, the only thing she could think of was some taijutsu, hopefully find a weakpoint in the armor. Ino rushed towards the legs of the golem, attempting to run up it and attack. However, she had no chance, as the second she neared it, the rocks re-aligned so that the spikes were pointing out. Ino leapt backwards, her only chance shattered by a simple realignment. Then, a thought dawned on her. She may have used her trump cared, but who says that only trump cards win battles, sometimes it's best to use what you've perfected to end a battle.

"That's it!" Ino thought to herself, "It's risky, but it's my only choice."

Ino rushed back towards the golem, but this time, ran under her legs as she placed her hands in a handsign. She slid across the ground, her hands pointed upwards. Right at the exact moment, she released her soul, which traveled through the rock and hit Yuri directly. Ino's body had enough momentum to slide across the ground, back out from under the golem. Ino sat in Yuri's body, feeling the tremendous strain of the golem jutsu in Yuri's concentration. With a quick decision, Ino released the strain, feeling the burden release from her mind, as the golem released. Yuri's body began falling, as did the rocks that made up the golem. Yuri knew that her body was taking bruises as Yuri's body was bludgeoned by the rocks. Altering her trajectory by pushing off a rock, Ino made sure Yuri's body hit the ground quicker than the rocks, so she could position Yuri under them. The fall hurt, but it was worth it for the setup. Right before the rocks were going to crush Yuri, Ino released the jutsu and launched her soul back into its vessel. She opened her own eyes as the rocks crashed into the ground and her opponent examining the injuries she indirectly caused on herself. Ino stumbled over to the rock pile, digging through it to make sure that she had won. As she dug, she came across more green ooze, just like what had happened to their previous opponent. The goop made her hands tingle, so she quickly yanked them out and wiped them off as best she could.

"At least I won..." Ino stated, before turning to see Anko and Sakura having a tug-of-war with a ripped piece of Sakura's shirt, "Well, I think..."


	11. Body & Mind

**Chapter 11 - Body & Mind **

Oshime surveyed the scene, two approximately equal piles of greenish clone goo laying amidst numerous puddles of blood and a myriad of glass shards. They were both cut many times, although such small cuts meant the blood loss was not too much of a risk. She reached into her pack, and pulled out a pack of bandages, and some antiseptic. Tayuya was stretching her arms, seeing if she could determine the damage done to her.

"Don't worry, they seem to be merely flesh wounds," Oshime interjected, "...Just hundreds of them."

"Looks that way," Tayuya replied, wiping away some blood that had trickled next to her left eye.

"Here, sit down and I'll apply some first aid to those wounds." Oshime stated, glancing at the glass shards scattered all over, "Err, let me make a spot..."

Oshime held the flute to her lips, and blasted a short air burst from it to scatter the glass shards on the ground in front of her. Tayuya quickly sat down, wincing as a cut on her back was stretched out a bit painfully. She waited for Oshime to begin, a bit surprised as she suddenly felt her shirt being lifted off.

"Err, what are you doing?" Tayuya asked, more curious than embarrassed.

"You have cuts all over your, err, my body, not just on the exposed parts." Oshime responded, "I need to apply aid to them all."

Tayuya nodded, and merely looked down at her new, ample chest. She had seen it quite a few times before, more exposed than it was now most of the time, but the angle and feeling made it seem now. Every slight motion made the flesh quiver, even contained inside a bra. Oshime followed by removing the bra, even though there did not seem to be any cuts on the area it covered. Tayuya tried not to make it obvious that she was staring at what was attached to her chest, but anyone paying attention would notice quite easily. Oshime was busy taking Tayuya's sandals off, and did not notice, or merely made it seem like she did not notice. Next came the pants, riddled with slices and a few bloodstains. Tayuya broke her glance from her chest to examine the diaper she had been coerced into wearing, annoyed that it was wet. She may have been diapered 24/7 for a few years now, but she was actually in a body with bladder control for the time being, and she still could not hold it on, or even notice when she was using it. The diaper was evidence that even if her body's abdominal wound was ever repaired 100 percent, she may never know.

"I'll take care of that after I tend to your wounds." Oshime stated, far too nonchalantly for Tayuya's liking.

Oshime opened the bottle of antiseptic, and held a rag up to the top while tipping it over. She took the soaked rag, and gently slid it against the body she once used, starting with the shoulders. Tayuya winced as the rag contacted her flesh, each cut burning with the effects of the anti-septic. Oshime worked her way down her arm, before wrapping most of it in bandages.

"Well, that's one part down." Oshime stated, looking at the rest of Tayuya.

"Great..." Tayuya mumbled, not caring much for the pain involved, "How's Kin doing?"

"I don't know, she's still behind the glass." Oshime replied, preparing the rag again, "I don't want her to see us until we're not bleeding all over."

"I suppose-ack...that makes sense." Tayuya replied, wincing as the rag once again contacted her skin.

Oshime continued dressing the wounds, until she had finally finished, using a good portion of antiseptic, as well as enough bandages to make Tayuya almost look like a mummy. Tayuya stretched and turned, trying to get use to the restraint the bandages caused. Oshime helped Tayuya back into her bra and shirt, receiving glares from Tayuya that said that she did not need help to do it. The pants were left off so that Tayuya's diaper could be changed after the first aid. Oshime sat down next to Tayuya, and deftly removed her own clothes, leaving her naked except for her own diaper, which Tayuya was noticed was wet, as well. Tayuya smiled smugly, despite her rational thoughts telling her there was nothing to be so smug about. Either way, Oshime handed the rag and bottle to Tayuya, who went to work on her once body.

"There, you're good." Tayuya stated, after finishing.

Oshime nodded, and re-dressed herself, before standing up and stretching. She nodded her head towards the place Kin was, and began walking over there. Tayuya nodded, and followed after her. As they walked, Ixero's sword caught the eye of Tayuya, sticking out of part of the goo. She stopped for a second, pulling the blade out of the remnants, along with its sheath. The Phantasm floated right next to the blade, not hindered by the death of its owner.

"What are you doing?" Oshime questioned.

"I figure we either use it, or sell after we leave here." Tayuya replied, looking the sword over.

"Well, ok, but be careful," Oshime responded, "Who knows how that thing works."

Tayuya nodded, and wiped the blade and sheath down, sliding the former into the latter, and placing it on her back.

"Heavier than I thought." Tayuya muttered, readjusting her balance.

"It's about seven feet long," Oshime stated, "It's to be expected."

Tayuya did not respond, merely continuing towards Kin's protected location. They both noticed that Kin was still huddled in fear, covering her face with her arms. The glass walls had thankfully held up through the chaos, although moving them would prove to be an issue. Oshime carefully gripped the sides of the wall in the front, and slowly began moving it backwards. The other sides wobbled dangerously, but did not fall or shatter, thankfully. After carefully placing the first wall on the ground, Oshime grabbed the top pane of glass and yanked it off quickly, causing the two side walls to fall outward and shatter on the ground, eliciting a yelp of fear from the frightened Kin.

"Don't worry, Kin, it's just us." Oshime said gently.

Kin opened her eyes, and looked up at Oshime and Tayuya, a smile spreading across her face as saw the two.

"Are you playin' dress-up?" Kin asked, completely forgetting the dangers from mere minutes ago.

"Uhh...yeah, something like that..." Oshime stated, smiling sweetly, "Do you need a change Kin?"

Kin simply nodded, and laid down on the ground, not awaiting the order from Oshime. Oshime turned to look over to Tayuya, who seemed oblivious to Oshime's stare. It took a second, but Tayuya noticed Oshime, and gave an inquisitive look in return. Oshime simply pointed towards the empty space next to Kin, and looked back to Tayuya, who sighed at the realization. The silver-haired girl laid down next to Kin, grumbling audibly at the situation. Oshime merely rolled her eyes, and removed Kin's pants, as Tayuya's had already been removed.

"I'll take care of Kin first, then you." Oshime stated in a nonchalant manner.

Tayuya said nothing, and merely waited as Oshime removed Kin's used garment, and tossed it haphazardly to the side. After a simple wiping and powdering, Oshime had her in a new diaper and back in her pants.

"Now stay here while I change Ta-err, Oshime, ok?" Oshime stated, trying not to confuse Kin due to the situation.

Kin nodded, as Oshime scooted over and removed Tayuya's diaper, tossing it away as well. Oshime gave Tayuya a bit of a more thorough wiping and powdering, more for Tayuya's pleasure, rather than absolute necessity towards hygiene. After quickly re-diapering her, Oshime helped her to her feet, and pointed towards her pants back where the pair was laying. Tayuya said not a word as she retrieved the pants, and put them back on, before joining back up with Oshime and Kin.

"Your turn..." Tayuya stated with a smirk, not wanting to let Oshime forget that she was wet, as well.

Oshime nodded, and laid down where Tayuya had been, finding this almost-reversal a bit interesting. Tayuya slid the pants down, and slowly untaped the diaper, trying to drag out the change as long as she could. She wadded the diaper up, and tossed it to the side. Oshime was blushing a bit, something Tayuya had overcome not too long ago. Tayuya grabbed, a wipe, and brought it down near her privates. At that moment, time seemed to freeze for the two of them, as everything got blurry. With what felt like a jolt of energy between them, time resumed its usual speed and their vision came back. Tayuya blinked, confused at what just happened, before she realized she was looking up at Oshime's face. The face of the actual body of Oshime, who was holding a baby wipe in her confused face. Tayuya realized that they were back in their normal bodies, and was happy for a second, before realizing that she was denied her pleasure.

"I guess we're back..." Tayuya muttered, looking up at Oshime.

"Heh, yeah, I guess so." Oshime replied, smiling, "Well, now you get a second change in a matter of minutes."

"Shut up..." The redhead grumbled, crossing her arms and looking away.

Oshime merely smiled, and changed Tayuya once again, albeit in a different body this time. After she had slid her pants back up her body, Oshime took the time to look her body over. She realized that she was still diapered, of course, but said nor did nothing about it, not wanting to waste anymore time. Tayuya, still annoyed at the timing of the switch back, did not even think of Oshime's current underwear status, much to Oshime's relief.

"We've dawdled enough." Oshime stated, "Let's go, Grumpy."

"Shut the fuck up..." Tayuya muttered, glowering.

"Hey, watch the language in front of Kin." Oshime stated, no longer kidding around.

"Yeah, yeah..." Tayuya replied.

Kin merely watched the two of them, not sure what exactly was going on. However, she did not care too much. That serious, adult voice inside her head that had been bugging her for awhile had been dulled to a tiny whisper shortly beforehand, and had stayed like that since. Kin nibbled on her thumb while waiting for the other two to stop arguing, completely having forgotten the dangerous foe that she was so terrified of just shortly before. As she noticed Oshime and Tayuya heading towards the door, the latter of which still scowling, she reached out and grasped Oshime's hand. The orange-eyed girl smiled, and gripped Kin's hand in return.

"Ok then, let's go." Oshime stated, opening the door out.

The next room was merely a dark hallway, with no notable features, although they were sure there was a least one trap somewhere. Tayuya walked ahead of the group slowly, wary of any traps that they might trigger. As if to prove her right, as she stepped down, she could feel the brick descend a bit below the rest, as numerous kunai launched towards them. Oshime, behind Tayuya, and holding onto Kin, whose grip increased in strength by a large margin due to fear, was in no position to do anything. Tayuya transformed her arm into a Doki arm, and swung at the kunai. With multiple clangs, she managed to hit each one of them, her arm smashing against the opposite wall with no damage done to herself. Dislodging it from the wall, Tayuya's arm quickly shrunk back to its normal form. It was then that she noticed the hole that her attack had created in the wall.

"Nice job, Tayuya," Oshime stated, feeling Kin's death grip on her hand begin to relax.

"Yeah, sure, whatever..." Tayuya responded, not paying attention to Oshime.

She walked over to the hole she created, and peered into it. Just as she had thought, there was another hallway down the wall, leading into darkness. She was not sure where it led, but it looked like it had not been used in awhile.

"C'mon, let's go." Tayuya stated, looking down the dark hallway, "This could be an advantage."

"Uhh, you sure?" Oshime asked, a bit unsure of an unknown passage.

"Not at all, but it's worth a try." Tayuya replied, grabbing a torch from the lit hallway.

Tayuya led the way slowly, in case of any traps along the way. As they continued, they saw the end of the hallway up ahead, but did not see any turns or anything else that would indicate that this was anything other than a dead-end. Oshime was ready to turn around, but Tayuya looked undaunted as she walked up to the wall, and gently slid her hand across the surface. She took a kunai out of her pack, and sliced herself on the back of her hand, where there was a space between the bandages. She winced a bit, but then placed the back of her hand against the wall, and rubbing across it. The blood seemed to stick the certain areas of the wall, while the rest just dripped down. After a bit, Tayuya re-adjusted her bandages to allow her to cover the new wound. A glance at the wall revealed that the blood had stuck in place, making the image of numerous symbols that Oshime did not recognize. Tayuya, however, glanced at the symbols, nodding as she read. After she had glanced it over, she quickly performed a set of handsigns, as her hands began to glow purple. She held out her glowing arms, and reached towards the wall. Much to Oshime's surprise, Tayuya's arms passed though the wall a bit past her elbow. Tayuya seemed to fumble with something beyond the wall, until a loud click was heard, and a wall near them opened up to reveal a room.

"Wow, Tayuya, that was amazing." Oshime gushed.

"Only a Sound ninja could do that," Tayuya stated, "It's a system used to hide Mid-level secrets."

"Oh?" Oshime questioned, "Well then, let's see what's in the room."

"Right" Tayuya said, as the glow faded.

Tayuya entered the room first, a bit cautious at what lay inside. However, the first thing she noticed was a pull-switch for the lights, which she quickly tugged. Thankfully, it was not a trap, as the lights flickered on with a buzz. Tayuya's eyes widened as she saw an odd machine attached to a large capsule, different from the cloning one. Her mind began clicking as she dug through her memory banks, until realization sunk in.

"Holy crap..." Tayuya muttered, "Is it working?"

"What is it?" Oshime asked, "Do you know what this machine does."

"It's a Chakra Healing Unit, also known as a CHU." Tayuya stated.

"Bless you!" Kin interjected, receiving blank stares from the other two, "...Y-you said 'Ah-choo'..."

"...Thanks..." Tayuya replied, blinking at the sheer absurdity of Kin's comment.

"...Err, anyway..." Oshime began, "What's it do?"

"It uses your own chakra to heal simple wounds and replenishes your chakra all in one go." Tayuya responded, "They were merely a prototype when I was around, but they were apparently finished since then."

"Can you get it running?" Oshime asked, looking at it.

"I'll try." Tayuya remarked, "But no promises."

Oshime and Kin sat to the side, while Tayuya began working the buttons of the machine. Tayuya managed to recall what she could, using that information to try to activate the machine properly. It took a few minutes, but with a push of one final button, the word "READY" blinked on the screen.

"Got it!" Tayuya shouted, smirking.

"Ok, I'll go first." Oshime stated, looking at the capsule.

Tayuya nodded, and pressed a button, watching as the clear capsule opened up. Oshime stepped inside, and laid down, a bit nervous about whether this would actually work. She had no time to change her mind, as the capsule closed quickly. Tayuya pressed a few more buttons while watching the screen, causing the machine began to hum louder. An orange beam started at her feet, and moved up her body slowly, basking her in its light. After the beam had fully covered her, she could feel some stirring inside her body, as her chakra began to thrash inside of her. It burst forth from all her chakra points, and began coating her body. Oshime could feel her wounds closing up and her soreness being eased, as her chakra did its work. After about a minute, her chakra flowed back into her, and began replenishing itself. The beam began to work its way back down her body, and turned off before it reached the bottom and shut itself off. The capsule re-opened right afterwards, as Oshime stepped out and stretched.

" Ahh, that feels great!" Oshime exclaimed, beginning to strip her shirt in order to remove all her bandages.

"Ok, Kin doesn't need it, right?" Tayuya asked, keeping her eyes on the stripping.

"No, she's unharmed." She replied, "So just show me what I need to do."

Tayuya went through the process step-by-step for Oshime, making sure the latter knew what she was doing. After Tayuya was relatively sure that Oshime knew what she was doing, she stepped into the capsule, and watched it close. Oshime took a few breaths, and then hit the button sequence that she was taught, not sure if that final button was the correct one. Tayuya waited for the beam of light, but her eyes widened as she saw a syringe come out of the bottom near her feet. She struggled, but to no avail, despite her phobia of syringes. Oshime could not hear her through the glass, merely staring in horror as her mistake was causing harm to the one she cared for most. Tayuya's screams and vulgar outbursts merely left steam on the inside of the capsule, the thick glass leaving her unheard. The syringe plunged itself deep into Tayuya's leg and, with a loud scream from Tayuya, plunged out a large sample of DNA and blood. When the syringe pulled out, it retracted back into its hiding place, and the standard orange beam turned on. Tayuya did not notice nor care, merely curling up and shaking, skin quite pale. The beam did its job, and Tayuya was soon healed of her minor cuts and fully replenished in chakra. The capsule opened up immediately after, Oshime already standing next to it.

"Tayuya, are you ok!?" Oshime exclaimed, scared.

Tayuya said nothing in response, merely looking forward blankly, still shaking a bit. Oshime bit her lip, and helped Tayuya out of the capsule, not saying a word as she helped remove Tayuya's shirt and bandages. Tayuya calmed down a bit during this, but still looked a bit pale.

"I'm sorry, Tayuya." Oshime said, embracing her in a hug.

Tayuya simply nodded, and began walking back towards the entrance to the room, no longer wanting to be near the machine that did that to her. Oshime motioned to Kin, who gripped Oshime's hand, and followed after Tayuya. As they stepped through the door, it closed back up, once again hiding the room. The trip through the dark hallway was silent, just as it was in the original hallway. Luckily, no more traps were activated, leaving a clean trip up to the door to the next area. They entered quietly, Oshime still nervous about Tayuya's state of mind. They looked inside the next room, which seemed like a normal, ballroom-sized area. As they stepped in, the door slammed behind them, surprising only Kin. Next, a tile on the ground slid to the side, as a figure obscured by the shadows rose from below.

"Before we introduce ourselves and battle, I shall give you admit to take in and admire my amazing hairdo." He stated, stepping into view.

He was wearing a black body suit, with a light blue swirl-design on the front, reminiscent of a galaxy. His eyes were a teal color, large on his head, and teeming with self-love. However, what stood out the most was, by far, the hair he was speaking of. It was a bright orange afro, at least four feet in diameter, with thick spikes of similar length protruding across the surface, tipped yellow at the end. It truly was a sight to behold, although neither girl thought his declaration of admiration was referring to the absurdity of the hairdo, and more towards some delusion of follicular superiority.

"Now then," He began, "I am Juxt Brahe, the last and strongest line of defense. The last things your eyes shall see is the greatest hair ever known. I hope to see wondrous teamwork from you three before you die."

-~-

The dripping of water could be heard echoing throughout the room, the silence making it all the more effective. A man sighed, and began drumming his fingers against the rocky wall due to his boredom. He began hearing footsteps, growing louder as their owner approached his location. The lighting in the meeting place was not great, but it was good enough for him to see that the figure was indeed the one who he was waiting for.

"You're late." He stated, watching the figure get closer, "I don't like to be kept waiting in a damp cave while you saunter in here as if there's no urgency."

"Watch who you're speaking to," The figure stated, "With him gone, I am the new leader of his factions. We have more than enough experimental procedures that could use new test subjects..."

"Hah!" The man scoffed, "After he was killed, most of his factions went rogue and rebelled. Most of the prisons are empty now, and your precious test subjects have all escaped."

"Quiet your tongue, lest I cut it off." The figure responded, anger exuding from his calm voice, "I know full well of the conditions of our forces. That is not the matter at hand, and if you wish to leave this place quickly, you will stick to the important matters."

"Right," He responded, sighing, "Things are going as planned, minus a few unexpected, minor issues."

"Hmm, I assume the sample was collected?" The figure stated, adjusting his glasses.

"Yes, just before I left for this...place, we received data that the machine had collected the DNA required. I sent someone to retrieve it as I left." He answered, "The machine was designed to scan the DNA of its user before working, so there's no way we got the wrong sample."

"I helped create the machine; I need no explanation of its workings." The figure replied, "However, you have done well to retrieve the DNA required. If this all goes well, I'll make sure you receive a large reward. Now, as for the other factors, the ones not as controllable as the DNA gathering. How are they coming along?"

"Well, we can't be entirely sure yet, of course," He responded, "But the current results imply that things went as planned."

"Good, good," The figure said, smirking, "Soon, the plan will be put in action, and he will be reborn..."

-~-

"C'mon, you two, knock it off!" Ino demanded, trying to get Sakura and Anko to stop fighting over something so trivial.

Ironically, the fight ended that second, entirely because Sakura won the tug-of-war contest, causing Anko to tumble to the side and start crying.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Ino mumbled, sighing, "Shhh, it's ok Anko, you're all right."

With a reassuring hug, and Ino's words, Anko soon calmed down, but put on an annoyed face.

"She won't share!" Anko pouted, pointing to Sakura.

"Anko, she's younger than you, she doesn't know better." Ino stated, "You have to be nice to her."

Anko grumbled, and turned away, annoyed she was not getting what she wanted. Ino just shook her head, and turned her attention to Sakura, who had grown bored of the shirt scrap prize she had just won. Ino could see through her tattered pants that her diaper was wet, and laid Sakura down, receiving no resistance from the pink-haired girl. Anko sat down to the side, still with a grumpy look on her face. Ino ignored Anko's pouting, and carefully slid what was left of Sakura's pants down her legs, trying not to tear them any more than they already were. After they were fully off, Ino untaped the sodden diaper, and tossed it to the corner. At this time, Sakura began kicking her legs and giggling, nearly hitting Ino multiple times.

"S-Sakura, stop that!" Ino demanded, trying to grab her legs.

Sakura responded merely by giggling and continuing to kick.

"Uh-oh..." Anko interjected, looking down at her lap.

Ino turned away from Sakura for a second, checking to see what Anko was speaking of. She looked down at Anko's lap, and sighed at the sight of a stain spread across her skirt, which led to a puddle expanding on the ground around her.

"Anko, you're not potty-trained?" Ino questioned, sighed, "I thought you were old enough?"

"N-no..." Anko shook her head, tearing up.

"Ok, I'll get to you after Sakura." Ino stated, feeling a headache coming on.

The blond turned back towards Sakura, who was still kicking her legs wildly. Ino waited for an opening, and then quickly threw her arms between her legs, grabbing each right below the knee. It took a few seconds, but Sakura soon got tired of struggling against Ino's grip, and calmed down. Ino hesitated for a second, and then slowly released Sakura's legs, grabbing the pack of wipes from her pack after doing so. Ino made sure to look at Sakura out of the corner of her eye, making sure she did not go back to kicking. Ino removed a wipe from the pack, and wiped Sakura clean, following it up with some baby powder. Removing a spare diaper from the pack, Ino taped it snugly on Sakura, helping her back into her tattered pants soon afterwards.

"Ok, Sakura, all done." Ino stated, knowing Sakura was not paying attention, "Your turn, Anko."

Anko nodded, and laid down, sticking her legs in the air for Ino. Ino smiled a bit, glad to see Anko being cooperative and trying to help. Ino hesitantly slid Anko's skirt down, a bit more embarrassed about the situation than she usually was with Sakura. Ino carefully removed Anko's now-ruined teal panties, and tossed them away haphazardly. Ino made sure not to stare at Anko's exposed privates, as she quickly wiped and powdered her. Ino hoped one of Sakura's diapers would fit, as they were the only ones that they had, of course. Ino taped the diaper in place, finding that it luckily fit her superior.

"Ok, you're good to go." Ino stated.

"Yay, thanks!" Anko shouted, seemingly bursting with energy.

Ino thought it was interesting how much different Anko seemed as a young child, although that may be because her adult self was such a sadist. As Ino thought about this, she picked up Anko's bag, annoyed that she had to carry it as well as her own. It was at that moment that she thought of the events which would lead one to call Anko a sadist. Ino began to get both embarrassed and angered at what Anko had put her through, as an idea came into her head.

"She makes me go without clothes, I'll make her do the same..." Ino mumbled, smirking.

She opened Anko's bag, and removed every article of clothing inside, dumping them to the ground. She then removed the other items, and placed them in her own bag for safekeeping. She tossed that bag onto the pile of Anko's other clothes, and walked back over to Anko.

"Now we're ready to go..." Ino smirked.

Ino tried to get Sakura to her feet, but the latter would have none of it, merely laying right back down as soon as she could. Ino continued to try to get Sakura to stand, annoyed at the lack of success.

"No!" Sakura shouted, crossing her arms, "No! No! No! No! No! No!"

"Ugh, fine..." Ino muttered.

Instead of trying to get Sakura to stand up, Ino merely bent down and lifted her up with a quick heave. She was not the heaviest girl, of course, so Ino did not have too much of an issue, minus the annoyance of having to do it in the first place. Luckily, Sakura did not struggle in Ino's arms, or she may not have been able to hold onto her.

"C'mon, Anko, let's go." Ino stated, walking towards the door.

Anko nodded, and quickly walked up to Ino, smiling a bright smile not usually seen on her face. Her usual smile was wrought with her own sadism and twisted pleasure, yet this was beaming with innocence and bliss. Ino almost felt bad about what she was doing, but then realized that the innocent Anko would never care, and it was solely meant as revenge against the sadistic Anko. Ino walked over to the door, putting her guilt behind her. When they reached the door, Anko had to open it, as Ino was still lugging the uncooperative Sakura in both arms. Anko fumbled with the door for a few seconds, but managed to get it open. The next room had three hallways, spreading from a center area, each looking exactly the same. Ino carefully walked forward, making sure that Anko stayed behind her. She suddenly heard a sound and nearly jumped, before she realized that it was merely Sakura, lightly snoring, apparently having fallen asleep in the arms of her perceived mother.

"Ugh, this is annoying..." Ino mumbled, knowing that some of the blame should be put on herself.

Ino looked down all three identical paths, and decided on the left one by sheer guesswork. She carefully walked down the path, which seemed to go on forever ahead, due to the dim lighting. However, as she walked, it seemed to continue being seemingly infinite long. After a few minutes of seemingly no progress, Ino turned around and, looking past the scared face of Anko, saw the same thing she was looking at ahead of them, a seemingly endless hallway. She began running the way they came, listening for the foot steps of Anko right behind her. Sakura was woken up by the turbulence, but luckily for all involved, she did not seem annoyed enough to cry. As she kept running, Ino realized nothing was coming into view at the end of the hallway, despite her having ran further back than they had originally gone into the hallway, leading to the only conceivable possibility, genjutsu. Ino sighed, and bit her finger, watching as the hallway blurred out of focus, while the correct one came back into focus. A glance at Anko told the blond that she was also trapped in the illusion, sighing as she knew what the only way to bring her back would lead to. Ino grasped Anko's hand, and bent her finger back until Anko showed signs of pain. The purple-haired kunoichi winced, and began tearing up as the genjutsu faded, not liking the pain in her finger. Ino quickly stopped, doing so soon enough to prevent Anko from throwing a full-on tantrum. Sakura, having fallen asleep before the genjutsu activated, was not effected by the illusion, not that it would matter much if she was.

"Let's try a different hall..." Ino mumbled to no one in particular.

After walking back into the main room, Ino decided to choose the middle hall, not seeing any significant features down either of them.

"Anko, stay close, ok?" Ino said, beginning to walk down the hall.

Anko nodded, and followed right after Ino, gripping her arm. As they walked, Ino was happy to notice that they were indeed making progress forward. Ino felt that uneasy in the hallway, and soon her fears were answered. With no more warning than the quieted sound of a turning gear, a large area of the ceiling fell down, crashing into the ground right in front of them, and knocking the girls over. Sakura fell out of Ino's arms due to the tumble, as tears began welling up in her eyes. Ino sat up, and rubbed her head, noticing the faint sound of a gear turning again. Her eyes went wide, but she could do nothing but close them in fear as the ceiling above her launched downward like the other one. It took a few seconds, but Ino eventually opened her eyes, wondering why she was not crushed by the large pillar. She looked over, and saw Sakura holding the pillar up with all her might, struggling to prevent it from coming down on them. With a burst of willpower, Sakura pushed the pillar back up just far enough to swing her arm up in a powerful uppercut, shattering the pillar into rubble.

"You ok?" Sakura asked, helping Ino to her feet.

"Umm, yeah, thanks..." Ino responded, still a bit in awe.

Anko was still sitting on the ground, crying at the fear of what had almost happened to her, but was quickly reassured by Sakura, who also helped her up. Sakura walked up to the first pillar that had fallen, and, with a thunderous punch, shattered that one as well. Sakura stepped through the rubble without a word, Ino and Anko following behind her.

"You feel ok?" Ino asked, referring more to her mental state.

"Yeah, I'm just fine." Sakura replied, "I guess the timing could have been better, but at least it didn't last too long."

"Now we have to figure out how to bring Anko back." Ino stated, receiving merely a nod in response.

As they continued forward, a door came into focus, implying that they had chosen the correct path. Sakura and Ino looked at the door hesitantly, before Sakura finally reached out and grasped the doorknob. The second she did, the ground began to shake, as large spikes protruded from each side of the hall. As soon as they did, the walls began closing in, shaking the ground as they did. Sakura gasped, and tried to tug the door open, ending up tearing it off the hinges. Behind the door, was merely a brick wall, shattering the hopes of the girls. Sakura, not one to give up so easily, concentrated her strength, and then launched a punch at the wall. The punch formed a crater in the wall, but revealed nothing beneath. Sakura punched once again, cracking the wall further, but still not revealing anything underneath.

"Crap, it's useless," Ino stated, "It's the wrong way."

"Dammit!" Sakura exclaimed, a bit out of breath.

Ino grabbed Anko's arm, and began running back through the collapsing hallway. Sakura followed after, looking for any free place between the spikes that she could use to shove the walls back. However, the spikes had completely covered the walls, leaving no opening for her to use. As the spikes grew closer, the main room came into view once again. Ino and Anko's head-start greatly benefitted them, allowing them to jump out before the walls completely collapsed on them. Sakura, however, was a bit further behind. As the walls collided, Sakura channeled chakra to her legs, and leapt towards the main room. Her enhanced strength allowed her to just narrowly avoid being crushed, tumbling across the main room.

"You ok?" Ino asked, looking at Sakura.

"Yeah, I made it, didn't I?" Sakura replied, out of breath.

Ino looked at the remaining hallway, and began walking towards it. She could not help but think that it looked odd, but continued undaunted, Anko and Sakura following behind her. As she reached the hallway, she gasped at the realization that it was nothing more than a five foot dead-end, painted to give the illusion of a long hallway. Sakura walked up to the end, and felt for any type of switch or lever. Finding nothing, Sakura began to think, before a thought came to her mind. Without hesitation, she slugged the wall, which collapsed into rubble with a loud crash. As the smoke cleared, there was a hallway past what used to be the wall.

"I figured there had to be something past here," Sakura replied, "All three had traps, but this one was a bit too simple."

Ino nodded, and followed Sakura into the hall, Anko trailing behind. As they stepped into the room following, Sakura noticed that it was a relatively large, square room, but that there was a few spike pits spread across the floor. Before they were able to examine more, a golden triangle with a side length of about five feet appeared on the floor and glowed brightly. The air above it seemed to become crackly, and the ceiling above crashed down to the floor faster than the pieces would fall. The triangle faded away, and the air seemed to relax back to its normal state. A figure jumped down from the triangle-shaped hole in the ceiling, landing amidst the rubble. Her eyes were fully black, including the sclera, with pupils that were merely blue triangles, one pointing down, and the other pointing up. Her shoulder length hair was bright blue, as well, except for an orange streak that extended into a bang that fell across her face diagonally, between her eyes.

"Ao. Ao Orenji." She stated calmly, "I have no more to say, except that I hope your deaths are swift and meaningful."


	12. Gravity

**Chapter 12 - Gravity**

"The parade of freaks marches on..." Tayuya taunted, looking over the opponent.

"All good jokes are strengthened through teamwork," Juxt replied, "Let's hope your future attempts at hilarity are done via coalition."

"Not that you'll be around to hear them," Oshime stated.

"Haha, I highly doubt that, even if your teamwork is immaculate." Juxt said, reaching towards his back.

He pulled a small black rod from its place on his back and held it out. As he did, it expanded to about five feet long, and grew a bowl-shaped protrusion at the top end.

"Solar Staff - White Dwarf" Juxt said, brandishing his staff.

A small ball of white fire erupted at the end of the staff, floating over the bowl-shaped protrusion, spinning like a small star. As the star erupted, the girls were surprised to see as their opponents hair began to change. The afro shrunk to about one foot in diameter, the spikes shrinking proportionally with it. Not only that, but his hair dyed itself pure white, as if to emulate the fire of his technique.

"Such a small attack; perhaps your claim of our deaths was a bit premature," Oshime stated, unsheathing her blade.

"As ignorant as you are beautiful" Juxt replied, smirking.

As soon as he said that, he spun the staff upside down, and slammed the ball of fire onto the ground. With a rush of air, a wave of white fire radiated from the staff, rushing towards the three girls. The wave was no more than four feet tall, so avoiding it was as simple as leaping, Oshime holding onto Kin so that the latter would avoid it as well.

"Still unimpressive," Tayuya mocked, feigning a yawn.

"Meteor Swarm," Juxt calmly spoke, ignoring the taunts.

With a rumble, numerous rocks tore themselves from the ground, and hovered around Juxt. With a snap of his fingers, the rocks lit on fire, and launched themselves directly at the trio. As they moved to dodge, they realized that the faux-meteors were able to follow their change of directions. Oshime, seeing that dodging was not going to suffice, instead swung her blade at the rock in front of her, hitting it directly. With nary a warning, the rock exploded, knocking Oshime back. She had been in front of Kin when the meteor exploded, acting as a shield against the small explosion.

"Oshime!" Tayuya shouted, pulling out her flute.

"I'm okay, it wasn't that bad." Oshime replied, lifting herself up.

Brushing the dust off herself, she grabbed a few kunai from her pouch and threw those at the rocks, instead of engaging them in close-combat. Tayuya, on the other hand, decided to launch concussive air blasts at them instead. This new tactic allowed them to destroy the explosive rocks far enough away from them to avoid the splash damage from the blast.

"Bladed Dragon Edge!" Oshime commanded, aiming for the final meteor.

The form of the dragon made a beeline for the meteor, but instead of merely destroying it, the dragon bit down into the rock, though not hard enough to cause an explosion. Using its strength, the dragon pushed the rock back toward Juxt, who seemed unfazed by the tactic. As the meteor approached, Oshime had the dragon bite down into the rock as hard as possible, causing it to explode before Juxt could escape.

"Got him!" Oshime proclaimed.

"Heh, not quite." Juxt replied, suddenly behind Oshime, "Not a horrible strategy, but without teamwork, it's meaningless."

Tayuya looked over to where the explosion was, and saw a clone vanish in a flash of white fire from where the smoke cleared.

"Dammit!" Oshime shouted as she leapt away from her location, landing where the clone had been.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Juxt commented, spinning his staff again, "However, I haven't even warmed up yet."

As he stated that, the ball of fire on his staff changed to a yellowish color, and grew at least three times as large. Just as before, his hair changed color and grew to match this development. The white afro/spikes combination switched to yellow, with orange tips on the spikes, and grew to about three feet diameter and spike length. The heat emanating off of the star was noticeable, although it seemed not to affect Juxt, who was right next to it. Without giving him a chance to attack, Oshime launched a stream of fire from the dragon's mouth, directly towards Juxt. He merely stood his ground, looking more bored at the attack than anything. As it approached him, the fire was tugged off course and into the star, much to the surprise of Oshime. The star easily absorbed the fire, as if it were never there in the first place.

"Nope, not gonna work~" Juxt taunted, wagging his finger.

With a blaring of notes, a concussive air blast collided with the star on the staff, right in front of Juxt's face. The mix of wind and fire enhanced the violent blast around the star, throwing wisps of flame in various directions. As the fire re-aligned itself into an orb, the face of Juxt came back into view, the minor burn marks on his face barely visible.

"Ah ha, a distraction leading into a sneak attack," Juxt commented, "Now if only it was competent."

"Hey stupid, you forgot something." Tayuya taunted, watching as their opponent turned towards her, "Surprise~"

Juxt raised an eyebrow, not seeing anything at all different about what the girl was doing. However, he soon realized her plan, and turned back around quickly enough to throw his staff out in front of him, right in the maw of Oshime's sword. Juxt used his strength to hold the blade back, preventing it from slicing him in two.

"You're getting better at this!" Juxt commended, enjoying himself.

Without another word, he leapt into the air, grabbing the top of his staff on the edges on the bowl-shaped protrusion and pulled it out of the dragon's mouth and into the air with him. While airborne, he flipped the staff over, holding the star down towards the ground, landing right behind Oshime, slamming the solar staff into the floor. Just as before, a wave of fire spread from the point, but this time it was at least eight feet tall, instead of four. Oshime's proximity to the origin point required her to think on her feet, using the body of her dragon as shielding for herself and Kin. Wisps of the flame managed to slip through the cracks of the dragon, but Oshime being in the front meant that she took each hit. The fire passed, leaving Oshime with minor burns across her body, but no worse for wear. Tayuya, being across the room, had an easy job of leaping the yellow blaze, throwing a few kunai before she landed. Juxt managed to knock each kunai away by swinging his staff, a loud clang following each swing.

"Well, that's two of you who are attacking, yet I notice that the third one has yet to do anything." Juxt commented, "That's not very effective teamwork."

"Worry less about her, and more about protecting your own life." Oshime responded.

Oshime launched the dragon at Juxt again, a simple attack meant to distract Juxt from Kin.

"Help...help...help..." The small voice whispered muffled in Kin's mind.

Was it a call for help by some consciousness in her mind, or a request for Kin to help her friends? Either way, it confused her. She tried to push it away, but despite the weakness of the voice, the word it repeated was strong enough to withstand the mental shoves of Kin's consciousness. Kin, unable to cope with this development, fell to her knees, head clenched between her palms.

"Kin!" Oshime shouted, seeing the collapse out of the corner of her eye.

Tayuya leapt over to Kin, and lifted the girl up off the floor. Oshime tried to keep Juxt occupied with her attacks, although it did not seem like he was concerned about attacking such a target. He effortlessly dodged the assaults of the blade, not caring as Tayuya brought Kin to the other side of the room.

"Uh, just...stay here," Tayuya told Kin, not receiving any indication that Kin was paying attention to her.

Tayuya hesitated for a second, and then jumped back over to Oshime, to help her in the struggle against their foe. Kin sat huddled against the stone wall, the conflict in her mind rendering her more confused than usual.

"Help...help...help..." The voice droned on.

"St-stop...C-confused..." Kin muttered, rubbing her head, "A-ah! Grah! AHHH!"

With that scream, Kin fell to her side and passed out, her distressed mind unable to cope with her inner turmoil. Despite her lack of consciousness, the mental battle waged on beneath the surface, the voice maintaining its presence in her mind.

"Kin!" Tayuya shouted, noticing the collapse, "What the hell is wrong with her?"

"I don't know, but we have to make sure that she isn't harmed by him," Oshime responded, narrowly avoiding a swing from his staff.

"Only the two of you? Where's the fun in that?" Juxt replied, "Never saw any teamwork from the three of you together."

"Oh well, you'll just have to die instead." Tayuya mocked, "So sorry."

"I look forward to seeing you try." Juxt remarked, "Try and fail, of course."

"Solar Flare!" Juxt shouted, as an arc of fire stretched and grew from the miniature star.

It whipped forward towards Oshime, who barely leapt out of the way, earning a burn on her arm. Undeterred, Oshime launched the dragon at her foe, mouth agape. Once again, Juxt defended himself via his staff, sticking it right in the mouth of the sword. This time, the sword bit down on the staff tightly, keeping it wedged in its place. Just as before, Oshime began to push against Juxt and his staff, feeling Juxt push in return. With a smirk, Oshime quickly decided to pull instead, using the added force of Juxt's pushing to wrench the staff from his hands. As she pulled the staff away, the star on the end died, and Juxt's hair reshaped itself back to its original large and orange form.

"Not bad, Kid, but there's still no t-" Juxt started before being cut off.

"Teamwork!" Tayuya finished, launching a compressed air blast towards Juxt.

He realized their plan too late, unable to avoid the high speed concussive burst. He was knocked into the wall a few feet behind him, a cloud of dust spreading across the area of his collision.

"I think that should have done it." Tayuya stated, breathing heavily.

"You go check to see if the body has become goo, and I'll go check on Kin, see if she's okay." Oshime replied, looking over the staff for a way to disable it.

Tayuya walked over towards where Juxt had crashed, the cloud of smoke and dust still obscuring everything. As she came close to the nebulous area, she noticed the vague outline of Juxt's body, presumably not having collapsed into a lump of goo. It was then that she noticed the handsigns being rapidly performed, the cloud beginning to dissipate a little.

"Os-" Tayuya tried to shout out, cut off nearly right away.

"Universal Control!" Juxt shouted, stepping through the smoke.

Tayuya and Oshime both turned to look at him, the smirk on his face growing as he made eye contact with his two opponents. As their eyes met his, the world around them began to waver and contort, darkening to a black void. Inside the void, shapes and colors began appearing and spreading, leaving various stars, nebulae, galaxies and other various celestial objects. It was if they were floating in a particularly "busy" part of space, but they were still standing on the same solid ground that they were before, just not visible.

"Welcome to my genjutsu." Juxt stated, plucking his staff out of the hands of the momentarily dazed Oshime.

"We're in no condition for another battle..." Sakura muttered.

"I doubt she's going to stop because of that..." Ino replied.

"And you'd be right, child." Ao responded, drawing a few kunai.

"You seem pretty unfazed about us three," Sakura pointed out, "Especially with what we're wearing."

"I care little for the appearances of others." Ao replied, "I only care to do my job and dispose of you."

Anko was standing behind Sakura and Ino, fearing the woman that she considered "scary". Ao threw the kunai at the girls, keeping the hand she used to throw outstretched, fingers separated. As the kunai whizzed towards them, three of Ao's fingers sparked with electricity, the same number as kunai in the air. Suddenly, electricity began coursing along the surface of the kunai, their velocity increasing as well. Sakura and Ino leapt to either side to avoid the projectiles, the former gripping onto Anko. The knives embedded themselves into the wall behind the girls, electricity still sparking through them.

"Subpar reaction time." Ao stated calmly.

With nary a word, Ao's triangular pupils began to spin against the black sclera of her eyes, the left one counter-clockwise, the right one clockwise. The rotational speed increased more as a golden triangle began to shine on the ground below Ino, airborne from her attempt to dodge the kunai. As they saw before, the air directly above the triangle began to become erratic and distorted. Ino, unable to avoid the attack due to her aerial position, found herself thrown into the ground at high speed and force, the air above her feeling heavy against her body.

"Ino!" Sakura shouted, landing safely with Anko.

"My Kekkei Genkai is more powerful than you can hope to match." Ao stated.

The glowing shape quickly subsided, as the air returned to its calm state of being. Ino was slow to get up, sore from the attack. She cracked her knuckles, unwilling to show her enemy that she was in pain. From the other side of the room, Sakura raised her fist up and promptly slammed it down onto the floor. Her immense strength caused the ground to crack, tremors spreading around the room. Ao stood solemnly, as if her balance was able to match the quavering perfectly. A large fault split open right in front of Ao, a spire of rock launched from the crack, directly at Ao. Instead of trying to dodge, Ao's eyes span again, a small triangle almost instantly glowing on the floor right in front of her. The small column of air wavered as before, the spire instantly crashing down tip first right as it made contact with the column.

"How pitiful." She said, bringing her hands up, "Vapor Fog."

The air in the room quickly became saturated with water, condensation resting on various surfaces. Sakura concentrated on the mist, not noticing any chakra abnormalities in her system, or anything that struck her as odd about the mist.

"Condense." Ao stated, her eyes still spinning from before.

Suddenly, two more triangles glowed on the floor, one below Ino and another below Sakura and Anko. The speed at which they appeared surprised the pink-haired girl, noticing that it was not so quick when it was used previously on Ino. Sakura quickly thought on her feet, pushing Anko out of the triangle right as the air became erratic. Anko's eyes became teary as she was shoved, not sure why the pink-haired lady was suddenly so mean to her. Ino was still sore, her reaction time slowed enough to prevent her from dodging. However, instead of a very powerful downwards force, it was much weaker. It would be hard to try to walk, surely, but it did not throw them into the ground as before. Ino felt the water vapor condense into droplets due to the pressure and spread across her body. Sakura continued analyzing the information she was given, still unsure as to the point of these two seemingly useless attacks, and the varying speed of the triangles' appearances. While she was going over the details in her head, Sakura felt the air calm down, the golden glow fading from the ground.

"Arcurrent." Ao stated, not wasting a second.

Their foe placed her hand out, watching as it sparked with electricity again. Two bolts of lightning rocketed from her hand, one aimed for Sakura and the other at Ino. They each leapt away from the bolts, not an easy task at the speed the charges moved. However, as they attempted to dodge, they noticed as the bolts took a wide turn in order to come back around towards the girls' respective locations. Despite how wide the turn was, the electricity was fast enough that it was still a threat. As Ino and Sakura contacted the ground, they instantly jumped again, not giving the lightning a chance to hit them. Anko watched fearfully, not wanting her friends to get hurt. With every dodge, the lightning arced back towards their position.

"The water!" Sakura shouted, "She got us wet so we'd attract the lightning towards us."

"So what do we do?" Ino questioned, "We can't keep dodging for ever."

"...I have an idea." Sakura replied, "Just keep dodging."

Her eyes spotted the area she was looking for, and she leapt once more, directly above it. Grabbing a kunai from her pouch, she used a burst of strength to throw the knife as hard as she could into the puddle where she was standing when Ao had coated her in condensation. Her strength caused the kunai to imbed itself deep into the ground below the shallow puddle, only the loop on the handle visible above the water. Almost instantly, the electricity arced towards the kunai, both bolts spreading their charge through the metal and safely into the ground below.

"You've just been grounded." Sakura stated, giving a smug smirk.

"...That was so lame." Ino replied, shaking her head.

"Yes," Ao interjected, "Perhaps you would not be joking if you understood the gravity of your situation."

"Ugh, not you too..." Ino responded, dejectedly.

"So easy to distract..." Ao stated.

It was then that Ino realized that Ao's pupils were spinning. She could recognize the glow appear and grow slowly, but a glance told her it was not below. Before she had a chance to think about it, Ino felt the air shift and heard the ground begin cracking. Not knowing what else to do, the blonde merely leapt to the side, hoping that she avoided the attack, wherever it was aimed. Right as she leapt, the ground beneath her let out a tremendous rumble and a triangular column of earth was pulled up to the glowing triangle on the ceiling. Ino missed the crushing column by mere inches, hearing it collide with the ceiling in a thunderous crash.

"I think I'm starting to get it." Sakura said to Ino, leaping over to her.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine..." Ino stated, sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway..." Sakura began, "It seems to me that the larger the area, and the stronger the collapsing force, the longer it takes to begin."

"I see..." Ino responded.

"Notice that the one time she got use both almost instantly, the force was only enough to get us wet with condensation." Sakura continued, "But when she wanted to crush you, each time it took a few moments to start up."

"Are you sure about this?" Ino questioned, "I mean, that one time, it was her plan to get us wet, so it didn't need to be crushingly powerful."

"No, but this Orenji character doesn't mess around." Sakura responded, "If she could, she would have gotten us wet as well as trying to crush us. However, getting us wet was important enough that she was willing to not crush us as long as it guaranteed that we'd become a lock-on target for her lightning."

"I guess that logic makes sense." Ino replied, thinking it over, "But that's not much of a battle plan..."

"Yeah," Sakura answered, "But it's a start."

"So, we have to formulate a battle plan, avoid her powerful attacks, and protect Anko..." Ino stated, "Piece of cake..."

"So much talk, so little content." Ao interrupted, placing her hands together, "Cataclysm."

The entire room began shaking, an ominous sound echoing throughout the ground. Water began bubbling up through the cracks of the room, slowly rising up to an inch in height. With no additional warning, two geysers of water burst from the ground underneath Ino and Sakura, too unexpected for them to avoid. Sakura managed to push away from the geyser before she collided with the ceiling, although her momentum meant that she merely hit the ceiling with less force than if the geyser had shoved her into it. Ino, lacking the bursts of pure strength possessed by her peer, succumbed to the full effect of the water geyser, sputtering for breath as the torrent slammed her against the ceiling. Thankfully for her, the geyser died down after only a few seconds, Ino falling into the newly formed pool of water it caused. The two geysers had caused the water level in the room to rise to two feet tall, Ao standing on the top of the inundation. Anko was standing in the corner, looking in childish awe at the growing water level. Ino pulled herself to her feet, sore all over from the various attacks. Sakura was already standing in the flood, making sure that Anko was okay over where she was standing. Channeling chakra to her feet, Sakura leapt the few feet in the air it required to get out of the water, expecting to stand on the liquid. Instead, she fell through it, as if she had not been channeling the chakra to her feet. She tried again, thinking her concentration might have wavered, but found herself facing the same results.

"My chakra is pouring through this water," Ao stated, recognizing what Sakura was trying, "Only one with my exact chakra signature can walk or stand on it."

"Ino, prepare a genjutsu." Sakura whispered while she leapt over to her, "And I mean for Anko, not Ao."

"What for?" Ino questioned.

"For her protection," Sakura responded, "If she gets too excited or scared, she's a liability."

"Fair enough," Ino responded, "On three?"

"One...two...three!" Sakura shouted, quickly leaping over to Anko's location.

Ino leapt over as well, preparing her handsigns for when she landed. The two splashes of water caused Anko to look up at the two girls, meeting Ino's eyes as she did. Anko quickly blinked, but when she opened her eyes, she was in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers, warm sun basking over everything.

"Yay!" Anko shouted, running through the meadow.

Of course, Ino and Sakura merely watched as Anko stared ahead blankly, lost in her happy hallucination. Sakura took a length of rope from her pack, and tied Anko up, in case her actions emulated the actions of her illusionary self. Sakura picked their sensei up, and used some kunai to attach her to the wall, her feet a yard or so above the current water level.

"Was that necessary?" Ino questioned.

"Who knows what Ao has up her sleeve," Sakura responded, "This is somewhat safer than if she were at ground level."

"If you're quite finished..." Ao replied, "I'll continue."

Saying nothing more, another geyser erupted from the wall, directly behind the two girls. Just as quickly, a second one burst from the wall to their side. They were able to just dodge the geysers, watching as the water level around them continued to rise. As one geyser stopped, another erupted from somewhere else, keeping the girls on their toes.

"Sakura, I'm going to use a seed, so be careful." Ino said, reaching into her pack.

"...Got it." Sakura replied.

Ino pulled a small, brown, rounded object from her bag, and held it in her hands as she performed some handsigns. After her hand motions, she lobbed the small seed into the water, a small glow on the seed the only indication of its location. Sakura leapt up out of the water, avoiding another geyser, and landed on the wall, using her chakra to stay attached.

"Overgrowth!" Ino shouted.

Ao raised an eyebrow quizzically, no indication for how she should avoid the coming attack. The water began to shaking slightly, odd sounds coming from below. Ao brought more chakra to her feet, ready to leap at a moments notice. Suddenly, a vine launched out of the water, reaching up to the blue-haired woman, who leapt up out of the way. To her surprise, another vine whipped out and grabbed her ankle, unable to avoid while airborne. A third and fourth vine also shot out of the flood, wrapping around parts of Ao, who struggled to get free.

"Thanks for the water." Ino mocked, "it really helped my seed grow, and keeps it powerful."

Ao threw her hands together quickly, just enough to place the handsign that called off the geysers, preventing the water level from getting higher and empowering the seed even more. She tried to start a new set of handsigns, but additional vines gripped onto her arms and pulled her palms apart. The vines stopped growing, merely trapping Ao in the air above the water, tight enough to prevent her from moving. Suddenly, a flower bud grew from a point in the vine, quickly blossoming into a flower. More began spreading along the length of the vines, until her entire figure was covered with the pink flowers.

"Those vines will soon suffocate her." Ino stated, swimming over to Sakura, "We should be fine-"

"I'm not finished yet!" Ao shouted, beneath the flora.

Suddenly, four golden triangles grew on the walls, one on each wall. Each did what they were known to do, Ao at the center of their power. Her form, cocooned beneath the plant-life, shook violently as the energy shapes pulled from each side. Multiple snapping and tearing sounds were heard as the flowers and vines constricting their foe were ripped apart, flying towards the walls they were closest to. Ao herself was in intense pain, her body being pulled in 4 directions at once, but she had the advantage of having a body of bone and muscle, able to withstand the forces of her attack.

"Dammit!" Sakura shouted, paddling in the water.

"I guess I should make sure you cannot do that again." Ao stated, somewhat calm.

Ao pushed her orange bang back into place, and placed her hand into her robe. She pulled a small metal device out of her clothes, and with a push of the button, a loud beep echoed throughout the room. The water quavered for an instance and quickly began to lower, whirlpools forming in three spots. Ino and Sakura tried to swim against the currents leading towards the drains, seeing that the whirlpools were concentrated over the three spike pits in the room, but found the current to be too powerful to swim against. Sakura tried to use her chakra to pull herself out of the water, but quickly was reminded of the trick Ao used on the liquid.

"Ino, grab on!" Sakura shouted, reaching out to Ino.

Ino swam over to Sakura, and grasped her hand tightly. Sakura punched the stone wall with her strength, grasping onto the edge of the hole that she created. The water pulled their bodies towards the closest whirlpool, but Sakura was able to hold on until the water lowered enough that the current was not strong at all. As the water approached a foot in height, Sakura let go of the divot, falling the yard or so down into the shallow pool.

"Thanks Sakura," Ino said, fixing her hair, "I really thought I had her."

"Don't mention it." Sakura replied.

"So you survived..." Ao began, "No matter. I shall take of you now."

Ao's pupils began spinning again, but much faster than usual, so much so that one might almost be able to mistake them for actual circles. All at once, multiple triangles appeared on the walls, miniscule slits between them the only visible indication of them being triangles and not just a large, glowing wall. The entire room was illuminated by the numerous shapes, minus the triangular spot where Ao was standing. All at once they activated, each pulling and pushing in various directions, at various strengths. Ino and Sakura were each lifted off their feet, finding themselves pushed and pulled in various directions, knowing at any moment that they could be thrown against the walls or floor or ceiling or even the spike pit and any imaginable force.

"This is my Gravitational Well, and it shall spell your demise." Ao stated, as calm as ever.


End file.
